Is radical surgery still possible for advanced prostate cancer with bone metastases?

  Advanced prostate cancer with bone metastases is generally not a candidate for radical prostatectomy, and this has been the view of both prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment guidelines and expert consensus for many years. However, science is constantly evolving and progressing, and exploration is the source of scientific progress. Over the years, many patients with advanced prostate cancer with bone metastases have undergone radical prostatectomy as part of their standard endocrine therapy. The results of a recent retrospective clinical study of these cases suggest that selective radical prostatectomy (tumor reduction surgery) in patients with advanced prostate cancer with bone metastases may prolong patient survival, and the results of this study may The results of this study may revolutionize the treatment strategy for advanced prostate cancer.  In fact, the indications (or indications) for radical prostatectomy have changed considerably in recent years. In the past, radical surgery was performed only for patients with early stage (T1 and T2) prostate cancer. Many years later, the follow-up of these patients who underwent radical surgery showed that despite lymph node metastasis, the long-term survival of patients who underwent radical prostate cancer surgery was much better than those who gave up radical surgery, so nowadays, pelvic lymph node biopsy is no longer done during radical prostate cancer surgery, but pelvic lymph node dissection instead. Radical prostatectomy is now advocated for locally advanced (T3 and T4) prostate cancers as well, as radical surgery provides a survival benefit for these patients.  A recent retrospective clinical study from the United States found that the 5-year overall survival rate for patients with advanced prostate cancer who underwent prostatectomy was 67.4%, compared to 22.5% for patients with advanced prostate cancer who did not undergo prostatectomy. The results of the clinical study from Germany were very similar to those from the United States, with a 5-year survival rate of 55% for advanced patients who underwent prostatectomy compared to 21% for advanced patients who did not undergo prostatectomy.  Such clinical results may change the current treatment decisions for patients with advanced prostate cancer.  These changes may have a significant impact on the treatment of prostate cancer in this country. Because currently 60% of prostate cancer patients in China are advanced patients with metastases (the proportion of advanced prostate cancer patients in developed countries in Europe and the United States is only about 5%), that is, most prostate cancer patients in China have no chance of surgery according to the current view, and the 5-year survival rate is only about 20%. This will be a great progress in the treatment of prostate cancer in China. Of course, whether this is actually the case or not requires rigorous scientific research and clinical observation. Our department is organizing and implementing such a clinical study. We hope to provide new treatment modalities for advanced prostate cancer patients in the near future, so that most advanced patients can achieve better long-term survival.