Grade Group 1 Prostate Cancer: A Pathologist's Case for Cancer Classification 'Pro' "Presentation" - Theodorus van der Kwast

July 24, 2024

At the CAncer or Not Cancer: Evaluating and Reconsidering GG1 prostate cancer (CANCER-GG1?) Symposium, Theo van der Kwast argues against reclassifying Grade Group 1 prostate cancer, emphasizing the pathological definition of adenocarcinoma. He highlights the infiltrative and locally aggressive nature of these tumors, noting their potential for perineural invasion and extraprostatic extension. He also points out the uncertainty surrounding the natural history of Grade Group 1 cancers and suggests future research focus on longitudinal radiomics studies of MRI-targeted Grade Group 1 prostate cancers.

Biographies:

Theodorus van der Kwast, MD, PhD, FRCPC, Professor of Pathology, Clinician Investigator, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON


Read the Full Video Transcript

Theo van der Kwast: At first, I want to say, I speak as an individual. Of course, for me, there is no doubt that Grade Group 1 or Gleason Score 6 is an infiltrative and locally aggressive cancer.

And actually, it's a matter of pathological versus clinical definition. So, according to a pathological definition, I have no other option than to call it adenocarcinoma. If infiltrated, it shows perineural invasion, occasionally there's extraprostatic extension, and you cannot separate it. And I think someone else will talk about that—the Grade Group 1 from Grade Group 2 and higher—on the basis of genomic alterations. So, that is the main thing.

Further, we do not know what is the natural history of Grade Group 1 prostate cancer. As mentioned, there's no metastatic Grade Group 1 cancer, but that is, of course, after the prostate has been removed. We do not know over time what will happen with these cancers.

And a worry, which was also ventilated just now by Adam Kibel, and I'm really worried about that, is that pathologists might start over-calling Grade Group 2 out of concern to underestimate a Grade Group 1, particularly when there are multiple biopsies.

And again, many patients with a benign diagnosis of Grade Group 1 might underestimate their prostate disease. I want to mention, was the change from Gleason Score 6 to Grade Group 1, courtesy of us pathologists, not sufficient to reduce patients' anxiety? I really think this is a USA problem. It's not a European problem, and also not so much a Canadian problem, I believe. So, I do not see why we pathologists should change the pathological definition of adenocarcinoma or change the nomenclature because I report my pathology reports written in pathological definition language, and I'm not going to change that so easily.

So, I think it's the call of the clinician to reduce patient anxiety, and not the duty of the pathologist.

Next, please.

So, here we have an example, a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma, Grade Group 1, in six of 12 cores. Maximum carcinoma extent 80%, positive for perineural invasion. That's the current diagnosis.

Would you want something like this, as a neoplasm benign, in six of 12 cores, maximum extent 80%? And maybe remove the positive for perineural invasion, not to make the patient scared, or something like that? Come on, that's not going to happen.

So, the great unknown, I mean, what is the big question? Well, the question is how frequently does Grade Group 1 adenocarcinoma evolve into higher than Grade Group 1 carcinoma.

So, there are modeling studies. I think the Etzioni paper, the group of Etzioni, they published that the risk over 10 years in an active surveillance cohort, and it is a Johns Hopkins active surveillance cohort, so very, very strict, rigorous guidelines, is 12-20%, which is not nothing. Again, future research should be longitudinal radiomics study of MRI-targeted Grade Group 1 prostate cancers, probably.