The likelihood of pT3* or higher tumours and node-positive disease found at the time of radical prostatectomy (RP) for prostate cancer (PCa) was greater during the COVID-19 pandemic than it was before, experts reported at EAU21.
From March 11 – when the WHO first declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic – to December 2020, men treated with RP were more likely to have an extraprostatic disease (invasion of adipose tissue and/or of the periprostatic neurovascular plexus) compared with men who underwent RP during the same period the previous year prior to the pandemic, said study author Dr Fabio Zattoni from the Academical Medical Centre Hospital, Udine, Italy, during his presentation. [EAU21, abstract P1147]
“The COVID-19 pandemic induced a stage migration phenomenon among men treated with RP,” he commented.
Prostate cancer is the most frequent solid malignancy among men in western countries. [Ann Oncol 2005;16:481-8] What sets PCa apart from other solid cancers is the usually protracted natural course of the disease.
Over 2,500 men (927 in the study arm vs 1647 in the control arm), underwent RP at 8 European medical centres. Patients with metastatic disease who were not eligible for local treatment and those with recurrent prostate cancer after RP or radiation therapy were excluded.
