Dr. Sandler on Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Howard M. Sandler, MD, the Chair of Radiation Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discusses the RTOG 94-06 study, which analyzed three dimensional conformal radiation therapy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for patients with prostate cancer.

In this study, patients were randomized to 70.2 Gy or 79.2 Gy. A recent secondary analysis looked at the high dose arm (79.2 Gy), as some patients were treated with 3-D conformal therapy and others were treated with IMRT.

IMRT is a more focused form of radiation therapy, Sandler says, so it was no surprise that the IMRT cohort of patients saw a slight decrease in rectal toxicity.