Change of preoperative symptoms of the late-onset hypogonadism syndrome after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy

Background As prostate cancer (PCa) is a common cancer among older men, patients with PCa often show aging male symptoms (AMSs). This study aimed to investigate the preoperative AMSs of the late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) syndrome and the effects on them after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). Materials and methods One hundred eighty-eight patients who underwent RARP without androgen deprivation therapy were measured for serum free and serum total testosterone, and were preoperatively assessed for symptoms of the LOH syndrome using a questionnaire containing an AMS score. Patients with a preoperative AMS score higher than 37 and a serum free testosterone level lower than 8.5 pg/mL were classified as Group A, with the remaining classified as Group B. AMS scores were measured at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after surgery. Results Of the 188 patients, 49 and 139 patients were classified as Groups A and B, respectively. Preoperative AMS scores were 44.5 ± 8.2 in Group A and 28.6 ± 5.3 in Group B (p < 0.0001). AMS scores in Group A significantly improved 1 month after RARP (30.6 ± 8.4, p < 0.0001) compared with their preoperative scores and remained at the same level from 3 to 12 months postoperatively, whereas those in Group B became significantly worse (32.0 ± 7.8, p < 0.0001) than their preoperative ones. There were no differences between AMS scores in Groups A and B at every postoperative period (p = 0.3259, 0.2730, 0.2429, 0.4629, 0.1771 at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after surgery, respectively). Conclusions Our results indicate that AMSs in PCa patients with the LOH syndrome can expect the same level of improvement as patients without it.