Low pre-radiotherapy prostate-specific antigen level is a significant predictor of treatment success for postoperative radiotherapy in patients with prostate cancer.
BACKGROUND
The optimal role of postoperative radiotherapy for patients with prostate cancer remains undefined.


METHODS
The medical records of 70 patients (median age: 66 years), who had received radical radiotherapy (RT) between the years 1996 and 2004 after radical prostatectomy (RP), were analyzed. Fifteen patients had received immediate adjuvant RT, while the other 55 patients had received salvage therapy. Hormonal therapy had been performed in 28 patients before RT and continued in two of them concurrently with RT. A median dose of 60 Gy was delivered to the prostate bed. Pelvic node irradiation was performed in all patients.


RESULTS
After a median follow-up period of 23 months, 21 patients had experienced biochemical failure. Actuarial 3- and 5-year biochemical relapse-free survival estimates were 67.4%. No patient had local failure, although distant metastases with biochemical failure were found in five patients. On univariate analysis, the following were significant for biochemical failures: seminar vesicle involvement, serum PSA level >1 ng/ml before RT, pathological pelvic node involvement, RT indication (adjuvant vs. salvage) and Gleason score. However, only the serum PSA level before RT was significant on multivariate analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
Postoperative RT with a pre-RT PSA level <0.1 ng/ml seemed to be effective in patients with prostate cancer.
Sasaki
Tomonari
T
Department of Radiology, National Kyushu Cancer Center, Notame 3-1-1, Minami-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka, 811-1395, Japan. tsasaki@nk-cc.go.jp
Nakamura
Katsumasa
K
Shioyama
Yoshiyuki
Y
Ohga
Saiji
S
Toba
Takashi
T
Urashima
Yusuke
Y
Yoshitake
Tadamasa
T
Terashima
Hiromi
H
Koga
Hirofumi
H
Naito
Seiji
S
Noma
Hideya
H
Komatsu
Kiyoshi
K
Yamaguchi
Akito
A
Hiratsuka
Yoshiharu
Y
Hirano
Tomomi
T
Hanada
Kiyohiko
K
Abe
Madoka
M
Fujisawa
Yasuhito
Y
Honda
Hiroshi
H
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016879:Salvage Therapy
D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen