Reply from Authors re: Urs E. Studer, Laurence Collette, Richard Sylvester. Can Radical Prostatectomy Benefit Patients Despite the Presence of Regional Metastases? Eur Urol 2010;57:762-3

摘要

The growing direct and indirect evidence of a survival benefit from radical prostatectomy in the presence of positive lymph nodes (LNs) suggests that if patients are suitable for prostatectomy, this approach offers a significant improvement in survival. We agree with this statement in the editorial written by Studer et al. [1 ] in response to our study [2]. Furthermore, we think it is time to ask this question in reverse: Rather than questioning the benefits of prostatectomy, the role of LN dissection should be questioned. Careful evaluation of the true benefits of lymphadenectomy is necessary since there is growing evidence that the primary tumor is the source of disseminated tumor cells, independent