Radiotherapy for prostate cancer

ABSTRACT

Radiotherapy has an important role in the management of prostate cancer patients. It can be used as definitive treatment in place of surgery, postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy, or salvage treatment when recurrences develop after surgery. During definitive radiotherapy treatment, dose escalation can improve biochemical control but has not led to improved survival to date. Hypofractionated radiotherapy is applied for prostate cancer treatment, since prostate cancer has a low alpha/beta ratio. Contrary to theoretical expectations, hypofractionated treatment does not show improved therapeutic results and decreased toxicity, but it can reduce overall treatment time. Ongoing non-inferiority trials may assist in determining optimal hypofractionated treatment regimens. Adjuvant radiotherapy in patients with pathological T3 or positive resection margins can improve biochemical control and might increase overall survival. However, there is debate regarding the superiority of adjuvant radiotherapy over early salvage radiotherapy in high-risk patients after surgery. To address this issue, it will be necessary to wait for the results of current randomized trials.