Department of Radiation Oncology, Beaumont Cancer Institute, William Beaumont Hospital, Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, Royal Oak, Michigan.
We analyzed differences in disease presentation, outcomes, and toxicities between African American (AA) and White (W) men treated with definitive radiation therapy for their prostate cancer.
Three thousand one hundred eighty cases of prostate cancer treated with various radiation modalities at a single institution were reviewed. The cohort consisted of 92% W patients and 8% AA patients. Clinical and pathologic characteristics at presentation, treatment outcomes, and related toxicities were analyzed between the 2 groups. The median follow-up was 6.6 years (0.6 to 22.4 y).
At presentation, AA men were younger (P< 0.001) and more likely to have a Gleason score of ≥7 (47.9% vs. 39.2%, P=0.006). No difference in the 5 or 10-year rates of biochemical failure, disease-free survival, or distant metastases were noted. Although there was a trend for improved 10-year overall survival for AA men (65.3% vs. 57.4%, P=0.06), cause-specific survival was significantly improved at 10 years (98.6% vs. 90.6%, P=0.002). Similar findings were seen when controlling for radiation therapy dose, the use of hormonal therapy, and modality of radiation therapy used. Overall, genitourinary/gastrointestinal toxicities were similar regardless of the modality used.
Despite differences in presenting characteristics, AA men did not have inferior clinical outcomes but rather improved cause-specific survival when treated with standard of care radiation therapy. Regardless of the treatment modality used, toxicities between AA and W men were comparable.
Written by:
Shah C, Jones PM, Wallace M, Kestin LL, Ghilezan M, Fakhouri M, Jaiyesimi I, Ye H, Martinez A, Vicini F. Are you the author?
Reference: Am J Clin Oncol. 2011 Jun 18. Epub ahead of print.
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21694572
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