Lack of prognostic significance of prostate biopsies in metastatic androgen independent prostate cancer

OBJECTIVE: To assess the significance of viable tumour in the prostate of patients with metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We evaluated the clinicopathological features, including follow-up, of 40 men with metastatic AIPC who had a transrectal biopsy of the prostate. RESULTS: Prostate biopsies (median three cores per biopsy) showed viable tumour in 19 of 40 patients (48%). Of the 18 patients who had received radiotherapy (RT), nine had negative on-study biopsy results. A previous history of RT was not associated with overall survival in patients with biopsy-positive tumours (P = 0.84). Also, there was no statistically significant association between positive or negative biopsy status and overall survival (OS) in these 40 patients (P = 0.39), with a similar median OS of 19.6 months for biopsy-negative and 19.8 months for biopsy-positive patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Taking prostate biopsies at the time of documented metastatic AIPC yielded tumour in about half the patients. A previous history of RT was not associated with a negative prostate biopsy; the latter appears to have no influence on the prognosis.