Radical surgery removes as much of the lesion as possible and can achieve a clinical cure for many patients with early-stage prostate cancer.
But this does not mean that all prostate cancer patients can undergo surgery. Patients undergoing radical surgery need to meet two conditions:
- Patients have a life expectancy of not less than 10 years, are in good health, and do not have severe heart or lung disease;
- It is an early stage prostate cancer with tumor confined within the prostate envelope.
However, it should be noted that some patients who meet the above criteria but have a high serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) (>20ng/ml) or a high degree of malignancy (Gleason score >7) may not have a good outcome after radical prostatectomy and generally still need adjuvant therapy after surgery. The results after radical prostate cancer surgery may not be ideal, and adjuvant therapy is still needed after surgery.