Radical Prostatectomy Versus Placebo in Early Prostatic Carcinoma: A Veterans Administration Cooperative Study

Carcinoma of the prostate is the second most common malignancy in American men and the third most common cause of death in men. Approximately 96000 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed in the United Stated in 1987, and 26000 deaths occurred due to cancer of the prostate. Despite intensive efforts, beginning with endocrine manipulations more than 40 years ago, there are still no data showing unequivocally the superiority of any particular therapy. Therefore, the proper treatment of prostate cancer remains controversial and the results of various treatments inconclusive. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Veterans Administration Cooperative Urological Research Group (VACURG) carried out several prospective randomized studies to investigate the effect of different primary treatments of adenocarcinoma of the prostate (Table 1) [1, 3].