[Postoperative radiotherapy for prostate cancer: when to propose it? What is the place for androgen deprivation?]

Abstract

Purpose: While there is no high-level evidence showing superiority of surgery over radiation treatment, radical prostatectomy is the most common treatment option for patients with localized, non-metastatic disease. Nearly 30% of all patients undergoing surgery will develop a biochemical recurrence in 10 years. In fact, more than 30% of contemporary patients treated with RP will harbor aggressive disease characteristics at final pathology.

Material and mehods: We conducted a review of the literature evaluating the timing of radiotherapy and the place of androgen deprivation after prostatectomie totale.

Results: Four trials randomizing adjuvant radiotherapy and surveillance found an advantage in biochemical relapse-free survival in favor of immediate irradiation after radical prostatectomy, called adjuvant. However, in these studies, more than 40% of patients in the arm without adjuvant radiotherapy did not relapse at 10 years of follow-up. More recently, the question of the optimal time of this post-operative, adjuvant RT or during biological relapse has arisen through three trials (RADICALS-RT, RAVES, GETUG-AFU 17). These trials did not show a benefit for adjuvant radiotherapy in terms of event-free survival, a PSA-based endpoint, while confirming the toxicities observed during irradiation immediately after surgery. The optimal duration of hormonal therapy when associated with post-prostatectomy radiation therapy remains controversial.

Conclusion: Early salvage radiotherapy is a new standard of treatment and adjuvant radiotherapy could be reserved for very selected patients. The role of hormone therapy is well defined in salvage situation, but its duration is still being studied.

Keywords: Adjuvant; Cancer de la prostate; Prostate cancer; Prostatectomie; Prostatectomy; Radiotherapy; Radiothérapie; Rattrapage; Salvage.