Quality-of-Life Comparisons for Two Radiotherapies for Localized Prostate Cancer
Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Anders Widmark, MD, of Umeå University, Sweden, and colleagues conducted the HYPO-RT-PC trial to compare patients' quality of life with localized prostate cancer treated with ultrahypofractionated radiotherapy versus conventionally fractionated radiotherapy. Their research, which was published in The Lancet Oncology, concluded that ultrahypofractionation was tolerated just as well as conventional fractionation for up to 6 years after treatment completion.
In this multicenter, phase III trial, these researchers focused on 1,180 individuals with intermediate-to-high-risk localized prostate cancer. Patients were required to be at most 75 years of age and to have a World Health Organization performance status of 0 to 2. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either ultrahypofractionation at 42.7 Gy in seven fractions, 3 days per week for 2.5 weeks, or conventional fractionation at 78.0 Gy in 39 fractions, 5 days per week for 8 weeks. Quality-of-life questionnaires were reported at baseline; the end of radiotherapy; 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after radiotherapy; every other year up to 10 years; and at 15 years.
A total of 591 and 589 patients were assigned to receive either conventional fractionation or ultrahypofractionation, respectively. Of these participants, 582 who received conventional fractionation and 583 who were given ultrahypofractionation were included in the quality-of-life analysis. Of the conventional fractionation group, 71% completed the questionnaires at 6 years and 66% of the ultrahypofractionation group.
The median follow-up was 48 months, and patients in the ultrahypofractionation group had a higher frequency of clinically relevant bowel deterioration than those in the conventional fractionation group. There was no notable difference between the groups in terms of urinary issues or sexual functioning at the end of radiotherapy. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the occurrence of clinically relevant deterioration of any factor between both groups at the 6-year follow-up.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit thelancet.com.
