Immediate radiation therapy is cost effective, study finds

It is more practical and cost-effective to treat prostate cancer patients with radiation therapy immediately after a radical prostatectomy, a study has found.

A team of scientists at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital, in study published in Annals of Oncology, have revealed that immediate radiation therapy is preferable to waiting and acting on elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels.

The investigation was launched as a number of questions had been raised about the risk of toxicities, overtreatment and costs despite previous studies heralding the approach as best for overall survival.

Timothy Showalter, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology, associate research member of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, and lead author of the study, said that, worryingly, despite clinical evidence, less than 20 per cent of patients receive immediate radiation therapy.

"Studies like this one are an important step toward establishing the value of this treatment and suggest that adjuvant radiation therapy should have a role in the treatment of selected patients," Professor Showalter added.