BACKGROUND:

Prostate cancer is the most frequent malignant tumor in men above 50 years of age. Cryoablation has fewer complications and adverse effects, as well as offering better quality of life than prostatectomy. Even though its advantages are well-known, there are currently no studies related to survival after the procedure.

OBJECTIVE:

To compare survival in patients that underwent radical prostatectomy versus cryoablation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A retrospective, observational, and descriptive study was conducted that utilized the Integrated Hospital Administration System of PEMEX to review electronic case records, utilizing the “Reports” tab. Patients diagnosed with prostate cancer that had complete histopathologic studies and that underwent prostatectomy or cryoablation at the Hospital Central Sur de Alta Especialidad de PEMEX within the time frame of January 2005 and January 2016 were selected. The mortality analysis for independent groups was carried out using the ꭓ2 test and statistical significance was set at a p < 0.05.

RESULTS:

A total of 289 patient files were obtained and the mean age of the patients was 62 years. Seven (2.4%) patients in the radical prostatectomy group died and 6 (2.1%) patients in the cryoablation group died (p = 0.41). Of the patients that died, 7 had a prostate-specific antigen level above 1 ng/mL and 6 had a prostate-specific antigen level below 1 ng/mL.

CONCLUSIONS:

There was no statistically significant difference in survival between patients that underwent radical prostatectomy versus cryoablation. Further studies that evaluate adverse effects, costs, and long-term disease control are needed to determine whether cryoablation is superior to radical prostatectomy.

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