To examine whether radical prostatectomy (RP) conducted before 4 or 6 weeks after prostate biopsy is associated with surgical difficulty or efficacy. Many urologists recommend an interval of at least 4 to 6 weeks between prostate biopsy and RP.

Using our surgical database, we identified 2996 men undergoing open RP and compared the outcomes after surgery stratified by the interval from biopsy, analyzed as a dichotomous variable with cutpoints of either 4 or 6 weeks. The estimated blood loss and operating room time were considered surrogates for surgical difficulty, and surgical margin status and postoperative urinary and erectile function surrogates for surgical efficacy. We used regression models to assess whether the time to RP affected these surgical outcomes after controlling for the surgeon, surgeon experience, and various clinical and pathologic disease features.

The interval between biopsy and RP was 4 weeks or less for 168 men (6%) and 6 weeks or less for 416 men (14%). Using an interval of 4 weeks or less or 6 weeks or less, multivariate mixed effects regression analyses did not show a significant association between early surgery and operating room time, estimated blood loss, surgical margin status, urinary continence, or erectile function (all P ≥0.18). Our results were sufficiently precise to exclude an important effect of early surgery.

The results of our study have shown that performing radical prostatectomy shortly after prostate biopsy, within 4 to 6 weeks, does not adversely influence surgical difficulty or efficacy.