Clinical management of rising prostate-specific antigen after radical retropubic prostatectomy

Approximately 40% of men diagnosed with prostate cancer will undergo radical prostatectomy.1 Of these, 15% to 46% will manifest an isolated, asymptomatic rise in postoperative PSA within 15 years. This phenomenon is referred to as biochemical recurrence. Since an estimated 75,000 radical prostatectomies are performed annually in the US, biochemical recurrence after prostatectomy represents a healthcare issue of considerable magnitude, affecting several thousand men each year.2