European urology
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Multicenter Study
Obesity, prostate-specific antigen nadir, and biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy: biology or technique? Results from the SEARCH database.
Obesity is associated with an increased risk of biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy (RP). It is unclear whether this is due to technical challenges related to operating on obese men or other biologic factors. ⋯ Obese men are more likely to have a higher PSA nadir, suggesting that either more advanced disease or technical issues confound an ideal operation. However, even after adjusting for the increased PSA nadir, obesity remained predictive of BCR, suggesting that tumors in obese men are growing faster. This provides further support for the idea that obesity is biologically associated with prostate cancer progression.