title: Salvage radiotherapy in patients with persisting prostate-specific antigen after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer.
abstract: Salvage radiotherapy in patients with persisting prostate-specific antigen (PSA) after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer offers an approach to reduce local recurrence rates and to improve the rate of biochemical freedom from relapse. 30-70% of these patients experience a decrease in their PSA to an undetectable range; in about 40-50% of these patients, PSA remains stable after 5 years. Therefore, radiation therapy offers these patients an ultimate chance of cure. The pre-irradiation PSA value is of particular importance. The PSA level should not exceed 2 ng/ml because otherwise the rate of distant metastases increases significantly. Serious side effects are apparently low, thus confirming the suitability of this therapeutic approach.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Radiotherapy and Radiation Oncology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany. dirk.bottke@medizin.fu-berlin.de
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bottke
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wiegel
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Höcht
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schostak
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hinkelbein
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D016879:Salvage Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen