Radiotherapy, Image-guided Articles

BACKGROUND - Radiation therapy is an established cornerstone in the treatment of prostate cancer. Significant advances in the techniques and therapeutic concepts have been made in recent decades.

OBJECTIVE - The objective of this article is to provide an overview of current standards of care and recent technical and conceptional developments.

The use of prostate fiducial markers and perirectal hydrogel spacers can reduce the acute and late toxicities associated with prostate radiotherapy. These procedures are usually performed days-to-weeks before simulation as a separate clinic visit to ensure resolution of procedure-related inflammation.

Injection of a hydrogel spacer before prostate cancer radiotherapy (RT) is known to reduce the dose to the rectal wall. Clinical results from the patient's perspective are needed to better assess a possible benefit.

To determine whether setup errors during external beam radiation therapy (RT) for prostate cancer are influenced by the combination of androgen deprivation treatment (ADT) and RT.

Data from 175 patients treated for prostate cancer were retrospectively analyzed.