Impact of positive surgical margin status in predicting early biochemical recurrence after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy

Background We investigated the association between positive surgical margin (PSM) status and biochemical recurrence (BCR) after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) to develop a prognostic factor-based risk stratification model for BCR. Methods We analyzed the data of 483 patients who underwent RARP at our hospital between October 2010 and April 2019; 435 patients without neoadjuvant therapy were finally included. The BCR-free survival rate was determined using Kaplan–Meier analysis. Effects of the PSM status, including the number of PSMs, Gleason score (GS) at a PSM, and the maximum PSM length for BCR, were investigated using Cox regression analysis. Results BCR was confirmed after RARP in 61 patients (14.0%), and PSM was confirmed in 74 patients (17.0%); PSM was a significant predictor of BCR ( p