Continued benefit to androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer patients treated with dose-escalated radiation therapy across multiple definitions of high-risk disease.

PURPOSE

To analyze prognostic factors in patients with high-risk prostate cancer treated with dose-escalated external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT) and androgen deprivation (ADT).

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Between 1998 and 2008 at the University of Michigan Medical Center, 718 men were consecutively treated with EBRT to at least 75 Gy. Seven definitions of high-risk prostate cancer, applying to 11-33% of patients, were evaluated. Biochemical failure (BF), salvage ADT use, metastatic progression, and prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression.

RESULTS

Each high-risk definition was associated with increased BF (hazard ratio [HR] 2.8-3.9, p < 0.0001), salvage ADT use (HR 3.9-6.3, p < 0.0001), metastasis (HR 3.7-6.6, p < 0.0001), and PCSM (HR 3.7-16.2, p < 0.0001). Furthermore, an increasing number of high-risk features predicted worse outcome. Adjuvant ADT yielded significant reductions in both metastases (HR 0.19-0.38, p < 0.001) and PCSM (HR 0.38-0.50, p < 0.05) for all high-risk definitions (with the exception of clinical Stage T3-4 disease) but improved BF only for those with elevated Gleason scores (p < 0.03, HR 0.25-0.48). When treated with ADT and dose-escalated EBRT, patients with Gleason scores 8 to 10, without other high-risk features, had 8-year freedom from BF of 74%, freedom from distant metastases of 93%, and cause-specific survival of 92%, with salvage ADT used in 16% of patients.

CONCLUSION

Adjuvant ADT results in a significant improvement in clinical progression and PCSM across multiple definitions of high-risk disease even with dose-escalated EBRT. There is a subset of patients, characterized by multiple high-risk features or the presence of Gleason Pattern 5, who remain at significant risk for metastasis and PCSM despite current treatment.