Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Prostate Cancer
Volume 2012, Article ID 853487, 7 pages
doi:10.1155/2012/853487
Clinical Study
Long-Term (10-Year) Gastrointestinal and
Genitourinary Toxicity after Treatment with
External Beam Radiotherapy, Radical Prostatectomy, or
Brachytherapy for Prostate Cancer
Grant K. Hunter,
1
Chandana A. Reddy,
1
Eric A. Klein,
2
Patrick Kupelian,
3
Kenneth Angermeier,
2
James Ulchaker,
2
Nabil Chehade,
4
Andrew Altman,
4
and Jay P. Ciezki
1
1
Cleveland Clinic Department of Radiation Oncology, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
2
Cleveland Clinic GlickmanUrological and Kidney Institute, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
3
UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, 200 UCLA Medical Plaza, Suite B265, Los Angeles, CA 90095-6951, USA
4
Department of Urology, Kaiser Permanente, Ohio, 12301 Snow Road, Parma, OH 44130, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Jay P. Ciezki, ciezkij@ccf.org
Received 23 November 2011; Revised 29 January 2012; Accepted 30 January 2012
Academic Editor: James L. Gulley
Copyright © 2012 Grant K. Hunter et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.
Objective.To examine gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) toxicity profiles of patients treated in 1999 with external beam
radiotherapy (RT), prostate interstitial brachytherapy (PI) or radical prostatectomy (RP). Methods. TThe records of 525 patients
treated in 1999 were reviewed to evaluate toxicity. Late GI and GU morbidities were graded according to the RTOG late morbidity
criteria. Other factors examined were patient age, BMI, smoking history, and medical co-morbidities. Due to the low event rate
for late GU and GI toxicities, a competing risk regression (CRR) analysis was done with death as the competing event. Results.
Median follow-up time was 8.5 years. On CRR univariate analysis, only the presence of DM was significantly associated with GU
toxicity grade >2(P = 0.43, HR 2.35, 95% Cl = 1.03–5.39). On univariate analysis, RT and DM were significantly associated with
late GI toxicity. On multivariable analysis, both variables remained significant (RT: P = 0.038, HR = 4.71, CI = 1.09–20.3; DM:
P = 0.008, HR = 3.81, 95% Cl = 1.42–10.2). Conclusions. Late effects occur with all treatment modalities. The presence of DM at
the time of treatment was significantly associated with worse late GI and GU toxicity. RT was significantly associated with worse
late GI toxicity compared to PI and RP.
1. Introduction
For patients with localized prostate cancer, treatment
options include active surveillance, radical prostatectomy
(RP), external beam radiation therapy (RT), or low-dose-
rate prostate interstitial brachytherapy (PI). There is data
showing that in low-risk disease, excellent prostate-specific
antigen (PSA) relapse-free survival outcomes are obtained
with a low risk of significant treatment-related morbidity
[1–4]. Low-risk patients do well with any of the three
treatment modalities but there is no data comparing late
toxicity. Due to lack of randomized data comparing these
modalities, treatment decisions are often made by patient
or physician preference based on the side effect profiles
exhibited by each treatment type. While all modalities have
generally similar toxicity profiles, there are slight differences
between each that can impact long-term quality of life [5].
There are reports comparing the late toxicity rates between
different types of radiation treatment options with noted
improvement in morbidity with newer treatment techniques
such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) [6].
However, there have been few reports comparing potential
long-term toxicity profiles of patients treated with radiation
treatment modalities to those who have undergone surgical