Open Access

REVIEW

Adjuvant radiation treatment after prostatectomy. Where do we stand?

Mohamed A. Elshaikh¹, Dina R. Ibrahim¹, Hans Stricker², James O. Peabody²

1 Department of Radiation Oncology, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan, USA
2 Vattikuti Urology Institute, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Address correspondence to Dr. Mohamed A. Elshaikh, Department of Radiation Oncology, Henry Ford Hospital, 2799 West Grand Blvd, Detroit, MI 48202 USA

Canadian Journal of Urology 2011, 18(2), 5592-5600.

Abstract

Introduction: Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in American men. For patients with adverse pathologic features, postoperative radiotherapy to prostate bed after radical prostatectomy has been shown in randomized studies to improve many important clinical endpoints including overall survival. In this review article, we distinguish adjuvant radiation treatment (ART) from salvage radiation treatment (SRT), discuss the evidences for ART and its potential side effects focusing on the debate concerning the optimal timing of post prostatectomy radiation treatment (RT).
Material and methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in MEDLINE including pre-MEDLINE.
Conclusion: For patients with adverse pathologic factors, adjuvant radiation treatment after prostatectomy reduces the rate of PSA failure with the potential for significantly improving metastases-free and overall survival. Whether an equivalent survival benefit can be attained with early salvage radiation treatment after biochemical recurrence, is still an area of debate.

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Keywords

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