4 Gy. As of 2002, all patients were treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) technique where a five- to seven-field treatment plan was used. EBRT was delivered to the prostate gland and seminal vesicles. The lymph nodes were not incorporated beta-catenin inhibitor into the treatment fields. For patients who received neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT; n = 98; 42%), treatment was usually initiated 3 months before the three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy/IMRT and discontinued at the completion of radiotherapy.
The ADT was given to patients with large prostates to achieve pretreatment volume reduction or to high-risk patients, and adjuvant ADT even for high-risk patients was not routinely given. The median duration of ADT used in these patients was 9 months (range, 1–33 months). The median follow-up for the entire cohort of patients was 61.2 months (range, 3–150 find more months). Follow-up examinations consisted of an assessment of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), patient symptom assessment, and digital rectal examination. New or worsening acute and late GU and GI toxicities were scored according to the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events toxicity scale, version 3. Acute toxicity was defined as symptoms experienced by patients during the course of therapy and up to 90 days from the completion of EBRT. The International Prostate
Symptom Score (IPSS) was used to assess urinary functioning (urinary frequency, hesitancy, urgency, intermittence, weak urinary stream, and nocturia) both before and after the treatment. The patient’s status was determined at the time of
analysis in October 2011. The Phoenix definition of biochemical Oxymatrine failure (absolute nadir plus 2 ng/mL with the corresponding date) was used for this analysis (16). Actuarial likelihood of complication probabilities and disease-specific survival were calculated according to the product-limit estimate (Kaplan–Meier) method. The threshold of statistical significance for differences was set at 0.05. The 7-year PSA relapse-free survival rates were 95% (95% confidence interval [CI], 86.5–100.0%), 90% (95% CI, 84.4–96.9%), and 57% (95% CI, 38.2–80.8%) for low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients, respectively (Fig. 1). The median follow-up for each risk group was 69 months (range, 11–137 months), 64 months (range, 3–150 months), and 47 months (range, 5–140 months) for low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients, respectively. In 206 patients who were free of biochemical relapse, 142 patients (69%) were noted to have PSA levels lower than 0.2 ng/mL at the time of last follow-up, and the PSA was undetectable (<0.05 ng/mL) at last follow-up in 85 (36%) of these patients. The 7-year DMs-free survival for low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients were 95%, 98%, and 83%, respectively.