In the first paper in this section, authors from the Mayo Clinic describe their experience and 15‐year outcomes in the controversial subject of radical prostatectomy in patients with clinical T3 prostate cancer. The findings were interesting in many respects, but the authors concluded that radical prostatectomy as part of multimodal treatment for patients with clinical T3 disease offers cancer control and good survival rates. There follows a series of papers on both prostate cancer and bladder cancer, but the final paper in this section from the UK attempts to define the accuracy of urologists and oncologists in assessing patient life‐expectancy. Using various methods they found that, rather disappointingly, doctors were poor at predicting 10‐year survival, leading to the possible outcome that some patients may be denied treatment after a pessimistic assessment of life‐expectancy. OBJECTIVE To report a long‐term experience with extirpative surgery in patients presenting with locally advanced (cT3) prostate cancer, as the best management of such patients remains a problem. PATIENTS AND METHODS In a single‐institution retrospective study identifying 5652 men who had radical prostatectomy (RP) for histologically confirmed prostate cancer since the advent of prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) testing (1987–97), 15% (842) had RP for cT3 disease. The median follow‐up of these men was 10.3 years. Cancer‐specific, overall and disease‐free survival was plotted and compared with those of patients having RP for cT2 disease during the same period. Perioperative morbidity, continence and erectile function rates were examined, with a multivariate analysis for risk factors of disease recurrence. RESULTS Freedom from local or systemic disease at 5, 10, and 15 years after RP for cT3 disease was 85%, 73% and 67%; the respective cancer‐specific survival rates were 95%, 90% and 79%. Significantly many men who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy (27%) were clinically over‐staged (pT2) and most men with pT3 disease (78%) received adjuvant therapy. The mean time to adjuvant therapy after RP was not significantly different between men with cT3 and cT2 disease (4.0 and 4.3 years). Pathological grade (≥7), positive surgical margins, and nondiploid chromatin were all independently associated with a significant risk for clinical disease recurrence, while preoperative PSA level had little effect on outcome. Complications and continence rates after RP in patients with cT3 mirrored those in patients with cT2 disease. CONCLUSIONS Significantly many patients with cT3 prostate cancer are overstaged (pT2) in the PSA era. RP as part of a multimodal treatment strategy for patients with cT3 disease offers cancer control and survival rates approaching those achieved for cT2 disease. Pathological grade, ploidy and margin status are all significant predictors of outcome after RP. Complications and incontinence rates in patients with cT3 disease mirror those after RP for cT2 disease.

Biochemical, PSA progression rates vary markedly depending on the method used to define PSA failure. Methods that require multiple increasing PSA values, for example the ASTRO definition, give misleading results, especially if the event time is backdated. Standards for defining PSA progression would allow more consistent and comparable progression estimates after radical prostatectomy. PSA 0.4 ng./ml. or greater may be the most appropriate cut point to use since a significant number of patients with lower PSA do not have a continued increase in it.

Objective: Studies suggest that high-dairy and high-fiber/ low-glycemic index diets may facilitate weight loss, but data are conflicting. The effects on weight loss and body fat of a high-dairy diet and a diet high in dairy and fiber and low in glycemic index were compared with a standard diet. Research Methods and Procedures: Ninety obese subjects were recruited into a randomized trial of three diets designed to provide a calorie deficit of 500 calories/d over a 48-week period. The study compared a moderate (not low)-calcium diet with a high-calcium diet. Results: Seventy-two subjects completed the study. Significant weight and fat loss occurred with all three diets. A diet with 1400 mg of calcium did not result in greater weight (11.8 ؎ 6.1 kg) or fat (9.0 ؎ 6.0 kg) loss than a diet with 800 mg of calcium (10.0 ؎ 6.8 and 7.5 ؎ 6.6 kg, respectively). A diet with 1400 mg of calcium, increased fiber content, and fewer high-glycemic index foods did not result in greater weight (10.6 ؎ 6.8 kg) or fat (8.5 ؎ 7.8 kg) loss than the standard diet with 800 mg of calcium. Lipid profile, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, leptin, fasting glucose, and insulin improved significantly, but there were no significant differences between the experimental diets and the control diet. Discussion: We found no evidence that diets higher than 800 mg of calcium in dairy products or higher in fiber and lower in glycemic index enhance weight reduction beyond what is seen with calorie restriction alone.

Genetic alterations of chromosome 8 appear to accumulate in parallel with the progression of prostate carcinomas. AI of the c-myc gene, especially with loss of 8p22, appears to be associated with poor patient prognosis.