Disseminated Tumor Cells in Prostate Cancer Patients after Radical Prostatectomy and without Evidence of Disease Predicts Biochemical Recurrence

Abstract

Approximately 70% of men undergoing radical prostatectomy had DTC detected in their bone marrow prior to surgery, suggesting that these cells escape early in the disease. Although preoperative DTC status does not correlate with pathologic risk factors, persistence of DTC after radical prostatectomy in NED patients was an independent predictor of recurrence.