Purpose: To define usual clinical management of prostate cancer (PCa) patients following postoperative radiation therapy (RT) (adjuvant or salvage) and its evolution over time in radiation oncology (RO) departments in Spain.
Methods: An epidemiological, cross-sectional, multicentre study was conducted. 567 PCa patients that had undergone radical prostatectomy (RP) and received postoperative RT between February and December of both 2006 and 2011 participated in the study. In patients from 2006, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed using the EPIC questionnaire. Investigators completed a specific survey on two clinical cases of adjuvant and salvage RT.
Results: 70.6 % of patients received salvage RT versus 29.4 % who received adjuvant RT; no significant differences were found in terms of frequency for each procedure between both the years. Regarding the survey, a positive surgical margin was the main criteria used in adjuvant RT decision making. In terms of salvage RT scenario, 85.7 % of the investigators stated that adjuvant RT should have been offered instead, 81.4 % of the investigators agreed on a PSA score >0.2 ng/mL as the main criteria for identifying biochemical recurrence after RP, and 67.4 % of investigators did not consider any PSA score for ruling out salvage RT treatment.
Conclusions: Most patients are referred to RO departments to receive salvage RT. Despite the publication of three IA evidence level randomized clinical trials, the patterns for using adjuvant and salvage RT did not change from 2006 to 2011, although patients' profile did. A consensus regarding postoperative RT indications should be reached in order to correct this controversial situation.
Keywords: Adjuvant; Prostate cancer; Prostatectomy; Radiation therapy; Salvage.