[Rescue cryotherapy for prostate cancer after radiotherapy]. / Crioterapia de rescate en el cáncer de próstata después de radioterapia.

Radical Radiotherapy constitutes a useful therapeutic option for localized prostate cancer. Almost one third of prostate cancer patients choose this alternative to treat the disease. Despite modifications in the technique as intensity modulation, 3D conformational radiotherapy or computer-assisted brachytherapy, a significant percentage of these patients will show an increase in PSA values after radiation. Local relapse without distant disease and PSA less than 10 ng/ml are candidates for salvage therapy. Cryotherapy has already become a curative treatment option in this group of patients. Recent technological as well as surgical advances in salvage-cryotherapy have reduced dramatically complications and progressively increase the interest on this alternative.

[Biochemical recurrence in patients with prostate cancer after radical treatment. Comparative study of prostatectomy vs. radiotherapy]. / Recidiva bioquímica en los pacientes con cáncer de próstata después de tratamiento radical. Estudio comparativo entre prostatectomía y radioterapia.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the biochemical relapse-free survival between radical prostatectomy and radiotherapy in patients with localized prostate cancer of low and intermediate recurrence risk. METHODS: A retrospective study of 435 patients with localized prostate cancer, radical prostatectomy was performed in 65% of patients and radiotherapy was in 35%. The Kaplan-Meier Estimator was used to assess the biochemical relapse-free survival and long-rank test, Breslow and Tarone-Ware to evaluate the differences between the groups with confidence intervals at 95%. RESULTS: The median follow-up of the series was 60 months (3-106). Biochemical recurrence was diagnosed in 21% of patients: 22% of those were treated with prostatectomy and 19% with radiotherapy (p = 0.47). No significant differences were observed according to risk group (p = 0.60 in the low risk and p = 0.32 in the intermediate risk). Tree, five and seven-year actuarial biochemical recurrence-free survival for prostatectomy were 84%, 75%and 70%, while for radiotherapy were 97%, 84% and 64% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There are no significant differences in actuarial biochemical recurrence free survival in patients with localized prostate cancer of low and intermediate risk treated with prostatectomy or radiation therapy. Due to the crossing of the survival curves we do not rule out that with longer follow-up these results could be modified.

[Risk factors for biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer. Implications of adjuvant treatment]. / Factores de riesgo de recidiva bioquímica después de prostatectomía radical en pacientes con cáncer de próstata clínicamente localizado. Implicaciones en el tratamiento adyuvante.

UNLABELLED: To evaluate the pathological variables predictive of biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy and their implications for decision making in the adjuvant setting. METHODS: 684 patients with localized prostate cancer who were treated with radical prostatectomy between 1996 and 2007. Before surgery they were classified according to D'Amico risk groups for recurrence. Following prostatectomy the following variables were collected: Gleason score, pathological stage, capsular invasion, surgical margins, perineural invasion and percentage of involvement in the piece. Univariate analysis was performed and subsequently adjusted using a Cox proportional hazards model (method enter). RESULTS: The median follow up of the series was 61 months. 29.1% of patients had biochemical recurrence. Overall mortality of the series was 4.9% and cancer-specific mortality 1.2%. In univariate analysis the Gleason score of surgical specimens, capsular invasion, perineural invasion, involvement of surgical margins, pathological stage and percentage of involvement of the piece had statistically significant (p <0.001) relation with biochemical recurrence. In multivariate analysis, a Gleason score ≥ 8 in the surgical specimen (HR = 3.08), existence of affected surgical margins (HR = 2.98), pT3 stage (HR = 1.61) and involvement of more than 50% of the piece by cancer (HR = 3.39) were identified as independent predictors of biochemical recurrence. Stratifying by independent predictors of biochemical recurrence (pT, Gleason score and margin), patients with at least 2 of these factors had an incidence of biochemical recurrence at 5 years exceeding 50%. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who have a Gleason score ≥ 8, positive margins, pT3 tumour or a percentage of >50% after prostatectomy have an increased risk of biochemical recurrence. Patients with at least 2 predictors of relapse have a probability of recurrence over 50% in the first 5 years of recurrence and should therefore be candidates for adjuvant radiotherapy.

Primary renal Ewing's sarcoma.

OBJECTIVE: To report two new cases of Ewing's sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the kidney, one of them with tumor thrombus in cava. METHOD: Characterization of two new cases and literature review by PubMed search. RESULTS: We report the cases of two men diagnosed with primary renal Ewing's sarcoma, who have been treated with nephrectomy and adjuvant chemotherapy, being in complete remission to date. CONCLUSION: Ewing's sarcoma / primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the kidney is a rare condition that mainly affects young adults. The natural history of these tumors is the evolution towards metastatic disease and death. Treatment is multimodal, combining surgery and chemotherapy. The role of radiotherapy is not well established.

Metastatic prostate cancer on the thyroid cartilage: unusual symptoms of prostatic adenocarcinoma. Case report.

OBJECTIVE: To review the unusual localizations of metastasic prostate cancer with the contribution of a clinical case of prostatic adenocarcinoma metastasis in the thyroid cartilage. METHODS: 49-year-old-male admitted with history of 48 hour hematuria associated with lumbar pain radiating to the lower extremities and cervical tumour for 3 months. RESULTS: CT scan of the thorax, abdomen and pelvis was performed showing an insufflating lesion on the left thyroid cartilage lamina suggesting chondrosarcoma, a 4 cm tumour on the posterior side of the bladder, and metastases on L4-S1 vertebral bodies and left iliac bone. Cystoscopy revealed an image on the posterior vesical wall suggesting prostatic infiltration by a tumoral process without evidence of urothelial tumors. PSA was 617 ng/ml. Digital rectal examination: Prostate with augmented consistency. Due to these results an ultrasound-guided transrectal prostatic biopsy was performed with the pathological result of Gleason 8 prostatic adenocarcinoma involving boths lobes. Complete androgen blockade with Bicalutamide and Goserelin was started with good response lowering the PSA level down to 29 ng/ml. Regarding the cervical mass suggestive of thyroid chondrosarcoma a left vertical partial laryngectomy was performed with replacement of the thyroid cartilage by septal cartilage. Pathological study of the piece revealed the presence of prostatic adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSION: Metastatic prostate cancer in the thyroid cartilage is exceptional, there being only five cases described in the literature. This fact, linked to the scant frequency of tumours lying in this cartilage and diagnosis by means of radiological suspicion, makes it very difficult to include metastatic prostate cancer in the routine differential diagnosis of cervical masses.