To evaluate the potential role of several clinical and pathological parameters in prediction of seminal vesicle invasion in patients with clinically localized prostate cancer undergoing radical prostatectomy. We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients who undergone radical prostatectomy from January 2005 until November 2010. Patients age, prostate volume, PSA, PSA density, percent of cancer in prostate biopsy material, Gleason summary, 1st Gleason pattern, 2nd Gleason pattern and the presence of high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia were studied for their predictive ability. Two hundred and seventeen patients analyzed and 13.8% of them had seminal vesicle invasion in the final histopathological examination of the surgical specimen. A significant difference in PSA values, PSA density, percentage of cancer in biopsy material, biopsy Gleason score and 1st Gleason pattern was noticed between patients with and without seminal vesicle invasion. In univariate analysis, PSA, PSA density, prostate volume, percentage of cancer in biopsy material, biopsy Gleason score and 1st Gleason pattern found significant. However, in multivariate analysis, only PSA (p=0.008) and prostate volume (p=0.027) were found to be significant predictors. PSA ≥ 10 ng/ml and prostate volume ≤ 41 ml was shown to be the optimal cut-off values for seminal vesicle invasion in receiver operating curve analysis. PSA and prostate volume should be considered significant predictors for adverse pathology of the seminal vesicles in patients planned for surgical treatment of prostate cancer. This is of great concern especially in cases that a seminal vesicle sparing technique is planned.

Department of Urology University Hospital of Patras Greece