Radical radiotherapy in prostatic carcinoma.

During the years 1978-1986 111 fairly elderly patients with prostatic carcinoma in clinical stages B, C, or D, and usually having tumours that were poorly differentiated, received radical radiotherapy to the prostate and bladder and to the adjacent lymph node regions. The side effects were comparable to those reported in the literature. During the follow-up 72% of the patients sooner or later (actuarial analysis) developed local recurrence or distant metastases. The projected survival rate at 8 years was 25%, and should be compared with the 65% expected for an age-matched Swedish male population. After 3 years the two survival curves became rather parallel, indicating a 'cure' rate of the order of 49%. There was a significant difference in survival between patients clinically judged to have only intracapsular carcinoma and those considered to have extracapsular carcinoma. The relatively modest survival figures in the present series reflect the malignant nature of poorly differentiated carcinoma of the prostate.