Hypofractionated RT in Low-Risk Prostate Cancer Produces Similar Results

Long-term patient-reported outcomes indicate that for a few men with localized prostate cancer, hypofractionated (HRT) intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) may be a reasonable treatment option and result in similar quality of life outcomes, when compared to conventional radiation therapy (CRT), according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) 57th Annual Meeting. Androgens are male hormones that can stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells, therefore, peripheral androgen blockage, or AAT, can be used to decrease or suppress the amount of androgens in the body in combination with salvage RT to possibly improve patient survival in this setting.

The patients examined through this study were 36 years of age or older and had undergone radiation treatment between 2001 and 2012.

The primary objective of the study was to determine if hypofractionated RT results in five-year DFS that is not lower than conventional RT by more than seven percent.

However, the study pointed that roughly one in two new cancer patients tries a few type of dietary supplementation, often without their doctor's knowledge.

"This is the first large-scale, randomized study demonstrating the value of a shorter course of radiation therapy for low-risk prostate cancer patients", said Howard Sandler, MD, MS, FASTRO, co-author of the study and professor and chair of the department of radiation oncology, Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

More than 90 percent of the supplements contained saw palmetto.

Moreover, many of their ingredients were extremely obscure, an average of 3 being easily identifiable while others were simply listed as "trade secret enzyme" or "other". Although not associated with negative side effects, the authors said the prognosis of patients is unchanged whether or not they take men's supplements or not.

Dr. Nicholas Zarosky, lead author of the study, stated that the researchers had suspected the pills to be junk and that the study confirmed the suspicion.

He notes, "We're talking about pills that are subject to very limited oversight and have never been studied". Duffy MacKay from the Council for Responsible Nutrition begs to disagree with the study results.

"These results are another example of NRG Oncology's exemplary work in advancing the treatment of men with prostate cancer", says Walter J. Curran Jr., M.D., an NRG Oncology Group Chairman and Executive Director of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta. The study authors stated further that no study of clinical trial for any of the brand formulations was conducted. "But they are not offering scientific evidence to support their position". They were doing this during their treatment or in the 4 years that followed. The 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act places the burden of safety exclusively on the shoulders of supplement makers themselves. "Although physicians have often anxious about delivering HRT to the prostate, advanced radiation techniques have made delivery of high dose conformal radiation with minimal toxicity increasingly attainable".

The study was presented in American Society for Radiation Oncology on Sunday, October 18.