Radical radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer in elderly

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Radiation Oncology
• Geriatric Medicine

Background:

• Prostate cancer is a common age-related neoplasm, particularly affecting elderly men.
• Management requires balancing treatment benefits against disadvantages, especially in older patients.
• Radiotherapy is often reserved for elderly patients or those with high surgical risk.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the role of radical radiotherapy for localized prostate carcinoma in patients aged 70 years and older.
• To assess treatment morbidity, local control, disease-free survival, and overall survival.
• To determine the effectiveness of radiotherapy in this specific demographic.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, non-randomized study included 103 elderly patients (age ≥ 70) with localized prostate carcinoma.
• Patients received radical radiotherapy with megavoltage linear accelerators (10-18 MeV photons) to a total dose of 65 Gy.
• Median follow-up was 40.13 months, with data collected between January 1991 and April 2005.

Main Results:

• 76.7% of patients had no evidence of disease at last follow-up; 23.3% relapsed.
• Overall survival rates were 65.29% at 5 years and 44.52% at 10 years.
• Disease-specific survival was 73.32% at 5 years and 65.42% at 10 years, with low-grade acute complications in 65% and late sequelae in 21.36%.

Conclusions:

• Radical radiotherapy is an effective treatment for localized prostate cancer in elderly patients.
• It achieves good local control and offers long-term cure with acceptable treatment tolerance.
• The treatment provides a good quality of life for elderly patients with prostate carcinoma.