Curative radiation therapy in prostate cancer

• Published in: Acta oncologica 2011-06, Vol.50 (S1), p.98-103
• Main Authors: Harmenberg, Ulrika, Hamdy, Freddie C., Widmark, Anders, Lennernäs, Bo, Nilsson, Sten
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brachytherapy; Cancer and Oncology; Cancer och onkologi; choice of radiation boost techniques; Clinical Trials as Topic; Curative radiation therapy; Humans; Kirurgi; Male; MEDICIN; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; MEDICINE; Oncology; Onkologi; Prostatic Neoplasms - radiotherapy; Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated; Surgery; the rationale for dose escalation; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0284-186X; 1651-226X; 1651-226X
• DOI: 10.3109/0284186X.2010.576115

Abstract Radiotherapy has experienced an extremely rapid development in recent years. Important improvements such as the introduction of multileaf collimators and computed tomography (CT)-based treatment planning software have enabled three dimensional conformal external beam radiation therapy (3DCRT). The development of treatment planning systems and technology for brachytherapy has been very rapid as well. Development of accelerators with integrated on-board imaging equipment and technology, for example image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) has further improved the precision with reduced margins to adjacent normal tissues. This has, in turn, led to the possibility to administer even higher doses to the prostate than previously. Although radiotherapy and radical prostatectomy have been used for the last decades as curative treatment modalities, still there are no randomized trials published comparing these two options. Outcome data show that the two treatment modalities are highly comparable when used for low- and intermediate-risk prostate cancer.