Dr Mack Roach III speaks to ecancer about early results of a phase III randomised controlled trial. The trial investigated androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and high dose definitive radiotherapy (RT) +/- whole pelvic RT in patients with unfavourable intermediate or favourable high-risk prostate cancer.

The primary endpoint of this trial was overall survival, focusing on whether radiating both the prostate and lymph nodes improves patient outcomes.

The study found that after 10 years of follow-up, whole pelvic radiation therapy did not improve survival for men with certain types of intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer.

Because most prostate cancer deaths occur after 10 years, longer follow-up is needed to see if early differences in cancer recurrence affect survival or metastasis.

Current results suggest that prostate-only radiation combined with hormone therapy is a highly effective and well-tolerated treatment.

Dr Roach highlights that future research using biomarkers may help identify which patients could benefit from adding whole pelvic radiation.