A recent European Urology Oncology study assessed the mortality risks, based on the Gleason score and clinical parameters, in patients with prostate cancer (PC). The Gleason score is a scoring system that ranges from 6 to 10 and is used to assess patients with prostate cancer. A lower score indicates that cancer cells resemble normal cells closely and are more likely to spread slowly.

Clinicians use the Gleason score to formulate effective treatment for prostate cancer, which could lead to a better prognosis. The ProtecT trial findings triggered a controversy regarding the accuracy of the Gleason grade 3 + 3 or Gleason grade group (GGG) results of prostate biopsy analysis for cancer diagnosis and outcome. The majority of the ProtecT cohort had GGG 1 disease, and among this population, only 3.

1% died from PC at a median follow-up of 15 years. As stated, participants of the ProtecT trial were randomly assigned to active monitoring (AM) and radical treatment. Patients received different treatments for prostate cancer, including androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), radical prostatectomy (RP), or radiotherapy (RT).

Around 61% of the patients who were randomized to AM eventually received radical treatment by the 15th year of follow-up. These patients were at a higher risk of developing metastatic disease. There is a possibility that a subgroup of the ProtecT cohort could have benefitted from earlier treatment despite having biopsy GGG 1 PC.

Clinical parameters based on the contempor.