ABSTRACT
Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare the long-term oncological results of patients with the diagnosis of prostate cancer who underwent open radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) and subsequent adjuvant (ART) or salvage radiotherapy (SRT). Material and methods: A total of 145 patients underwent open RRP for prostate cancer and subsequent ART or SRT postoperatively between 2010 and 2019. ART (n = 56) is defined as the group of patients with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) <0.2 ng/mL or with positive lymph nodes without PSA increase who received radiotherapy within the first 6 months of urinary continence. SRT (n = 89) is defined as the group of patients with PSA >0.2 ng/mL who received RT before PSA amounted to 0.5 ng/mL. Results: Statistically no significant difference was found between groups in terms of age, prostate volume, final pathology Gleason scores, lymphadenectomy, duration of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), time to relapse after radiotherapy, development of biochemical recurrence and disease progression. Extraprostatic extension, seminal vesicle invasion and surgical margin positivity were significantly higher in the ART group. No difference was found between the groups in terms of biochemical recurrence-free survival, while cancer-specific survival and overall survival rates were significantly higher in the SRT group. Conclusions: It was found that cancer-specific and overall survival was better in the SRT group. It will be more appropriate to follow-up until the recurrence and then to perform SRT after the relapse in the postoperative period.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: 5-fluorouracil (FU) is commonly used in preoperative chemoradiation in locally advanced rectal cancer, but not all patients cooperate in taking the 5-day continuous infusion regimen. Raltitrexed (RA), a thymidylate synthase inhibitor, is one of the agents used in place of FU in such cases. We retrospectively compared the toxicity, tumor downstaging, pathologic response and relapse rate with bolus FU or RA during concurrent radiotherapy (RT) to assess the role of RA in place of FU. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of response rates and toxicity data on 59 patients diagnosed with locally advanced rectal cancer and treated with surgery following preoperative chemoradiation with either concurrent FU or RA between January 1999 and December 2004. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 38 months (range, 1-70). Ten patients (10%) had grade 3 gastrointestinal (GIS) toxicity during chemoradiation. The pathologic complete response rates were 6% with FU and 7% with RA (P = 0.844), while 66.7% of patients treated with FU and 37.1% with RA had downstaging of the T stage after chemoradiation (P = 0.026). The sphincter preservation rates were 45.8% with FU and 51.4% with RA (P = 0.912). The 5-year local control rates were 79.2% for patients treated with RT+FU and 85.76% for patients treated with RT+RA (P = 0.510). CONCLUSION: Compared with the RT+RA regimen, the incidence of downstaging was greater with RT+FU, but RT+FU was associated with a correspondingly greater rate of acute grade 2 GIS toxicity. However, no significant differences were seen in sphincter preservation, pathologic complete response, local control and distant recurrences rates among patients. FU seems to be the best therapeutic choice, while RA seems to be as effective as bolus FU.
