Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026
A New Technique for Treating Low-risk Prostate Cancer—Super Active Surveillance
Published on: November 7, 2025
The utility of digital rectal examination after radical radiotherapy for prostate cancer
A Doneux1, C C Parker, A Norman
1The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, UK.
Aims:
The aim of the current study was to determine the utility of routine digital rectal examination (DRE) after radical radiotherapy for prostate cancer.
Materials And Methods:
Between 1990 and 1999, 899 patients with clinically localised prostatic adenocarcinoma (T1-4, N0/Nx, M0/Mx) underwent neoadjuvant androgen deprivation and radical radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital. Patients were followed with serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and DRE carried out at 6-monthly intervals for the first 2 years, and then annually.
Results:
At a median follow-up of 5 years, 39 out of 899 cases (4.3%) had local recurrence detected on DRE. DRE failed to detect any local recurrences in the absence of a rising PSA. The lowest serum PSA concentration at the time of clinically detectable local recurrence was 1.7 ng/ml.
Conclusions:
These findings question the standard model of follow-up after radiotherapy for prostate cancer, and suggest that alternatives, such as telephone clinics, should be considered.
