This was presented at a conference in 2008, and no subsequent paper was published about
this work. So unfortunately things like the Kaplan-Meier curves aren't available.
Also, honestly I'm not sure why I look up things like this. Some sort of morbid curiosity I guess. But, for those few of us with primary Gleason 5 maybe it is helpful to have it made clear that that this is a significant prognostic factor. The kinds of treatments, the possibility of entering clinical studies, the reality of going after such a case with, as SteelGuy has said, pliers and a blowtorch (!) are driven by the significance of primary Gleason pattern 5.
I'm now at 28 months since diagnosis, 24 months post-RT, and still on ADT2, but blessedly my PSA is still undetectable. I'm hoping I'm in the good part of these distributions!
Also, in the time of these cases radiation therapy couldn't achieve the dose levels and accuracy possible today. So the results of RT are likely a good deal better than this indicates.
Anyway, presented for the edification of a very small group of us here....
This came from this link:
www.researchgate.net/publication/266118054_For_Patients_with_Gleason_Score_9_Prostate_Cancer_A_Primary_Gleason_Pattern_of_5_Indicates_a_Worse_Prognosis_than_a_Primary_Gleason_Pattern_of_4For Patients with Gleason Score 9 Prostate Cancer: A Primary Gleason Pattern of 5 Indicates a Worse Prognosis than a Primary Gleason Pattern of 4James B Yu
Conference: Radiological Society of North America 2008 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting
ABSTRACT PURPOSE
Primary Gleason score has been identified as an important prognostic factor in patients with prostate cancer. In patients with Gleason 7 prostate cancer, patients with a primary score of 4 have a worse prognosis compared to a primary score of 3. Data regarding patients with overall Gleason 9 prostate cancer is limited given the small proportion of patients with Gleason 9 prostate cancer. The prognostic value of the Gleason score has been shown to depend on the expertise of the reviewing pathologist.
METHOD AND MATERIALS
The Yale prostate cancer database was analyzed for patients with Gleason 9 prostate cancer and PSA < 10. The date of biochemical failure was defined as the date of the first PSA value equal to or greater than the PSA nadir + 2. All patients received primary external beam irradiation and received at least 75 Gy total prostate dose. All patients had adjuvant hormonal therapy. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed and compared using the log-rank test.
RESULTS
20 patients were identified with Gleason 9 prostate cancer, treated from 2000-2007. Median age of diagnosis was 70 (range 56 - 81). 17 patients were white and 3 were African-American. 13 patients had a primary Gleason score of 4, and 7 patients had a primary Gleason score of 5. 10 patients received whole pelvic radiation in addition to prostate radiation. A primary Gleason pattern of 5 had a significantly worse biochemical disease free survival (BDFS) (p = 0.0013) compared to a primary Gleason pattern of 4. Median BDFS for Gleason 5+4 prostate cancer was 1.8 years vs. 3.2 years for Gleason 4+5 prostate cancer.
CONCLUSION
In patients with prostate cancer of total Gleason score 9 and a PSA < 10, who have been treated with prostate IMRT, a primary Gleason score of 5 is associated with a worse prognosis than a primary Gleason score of 4. This study is retrospective and of small number, but indicates that even with a high total Gleason score, the primary Gleason pattern still has prognostic significance when reviewed at an academic center.
For Patients with Gleason Score 9 Prostate Cancer: A Primary Gleason Pattern of 5 Indicates a Worse Prognosis than a Primary Gleason Pattern of 4 - ResearchGate. Available from: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/266118054_For_Patients_with_Gleason_Score_9_Prostate_Cancer_A_Primary_Gleason_Pattern_of_5_Indicates_a_Worse_Prognosis_than_a_Primary_Gleason_Pattern_of_4 [accessed Aug 19, 2015].