title: Value of sextant biopsies in the assessment of local cure following external beam radiotherapy of prostatic adenocarcinoma.
abstract: Between 1982 and 1992, 73 patients received radical external beam radiotherapy (EBR) for prostatic adenocarcinoma at the Central Hospital, Västerås, with an average dose of 68.1 Gy (range 64.5-72.5 Gy) and an average cumulative radiation effect (CRE) of 18.2 (range 17.1-19.9) All patients had a negative bone scan prior to treatment and presented with clinical stage T1-T4,Nx,Mo. Twenty-four out of 36 surviving patients consented to participate in a follow-up study which included transrectal, ultrasonically guided prostate biopsies. The average follow-up from EBR to biopsy was 5.5 years (range 3.6-11.1 years). Sixteen (67%) of the patients had a positive biopsy. The average PSA level in the biopsy-positive group was 35.7 ng/mL (range 3.9-200 ng/mL). In the biopsy-negative group, the average PSA was 3.7 ng/mL (range 0.2-13.0 ng/mL). The conclusion is that the degree of local cure achieved in patients with prostatic cancer treated with external beam radiotherapy is low (33%), and that a higher radiation dose may be required to eradicate this malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Central Hospital, Västerås, Sweden.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Almroth
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ljung
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eklund
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nordgren
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kalafatidis
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ringqvist
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nilsson
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome