Surveillance biopsy and active treatment during active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer.

Background: The goals of the study were to examine surveillance biopsy and active treatment in patients under active surveillance (AS) for low-risk prostate cancer and to determine the active treatment-free survival rate.

Methods: The subjects were 87 patients with low-risk prostate cancer who were under AS between 2000 and 2010. The eligibility criteria for AS were T1c, Gleason score ≤ 6, prostate-specific antigen level ≤ 10 ng/ml, one or two positive biopsies, maximum cancer involvement ≤ 50 %, and age ≤ 80 years old.