Adenocarcinoma of the prostate treated by definitive high-dose external radiotherapy

english

1997

volume 31, issue 2

Onkološki inštitut Ljubljana

Between 1986 and 1994, 436 patients with localized adenocarcinoma of the prostate were treated with external beam radiation at our department. After excluding those received a tumor dose less than 64 Gy and had insufficient follow-up data or had previous prostatectomy, we analysed a total of 384 patients (101 T1, 224 T2, 48 T3, 11 T4 - reclassified to UICC 1922). The median age was 69.7 years, the median follow-up 54.4 months. Patients with locally advanced disease were treated by pelvic fields (50.4 Gy / 1.8 Gy), followed by prostate-field conedowns (16-20 Gy /2 Gy): patients early stage disease received only prostate field radiation (66-70 Gy /2 Gy). Five-year overall survival was 81.6% for 11, 63.8% for T2 and 64.1% for T3/4. Five year disease-free survival was 89.3% for T1, 77.2% for T2 and 56.9% for T3.4. Thirtyone patients (8%) had local recurrence, 61 patients (15%) developed distant metastases. We conclude that high dose external beam radiotherapy is very effective in local control for adenocarcinoma of the prostate but, unfortunately, many patients will continue to die from metastases and intercurrent disease.

10.11.2023