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IMRT for prostate cancer: improving the therapeutic ratio
Pennsylvania Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated a correlation between radiation dose and biochemical response to three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy of localized prostate cancer. Patients at all levels of risk who receive higher doses of irradiation experience longer disease-free survival. However, higher radiation doses also significantly increase the risk of damage to normal tissues, particularly the bladder, rectum, and erectile tissues of the penis. By improving the conformance of the radiation fields, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) represents a major technical advance in radiation delivery, allowing radiation oncologists to increase the dose to the target field while minimizing the dose—and, therefore, toxicity—to normal tissues. This review outlines the rationale and indications for IMRT in the treatment of prostate cancer and discusses some of the pivotal studies supporting its increasing role in the management of patients with localized disease.
| Commun Oncol 2006;3:659–661 | full text |  86 kb |