Study Concludes the Daily Drug Administered For Prostate Cancer Resulted In Improved Sexual Function
Michael Zelefsky, Radiation Oncologist with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York
ASTRO’s Annual Meeting is the premier scientific meeting in radiation oncology and is expected to attract more than 11,000 attendees including oncologists from all disciplines, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, radiation oncology nurses and nurse practitioners, biologists, physician assistants, practice administrators, industry representatives and other health care professionals from around the world.
The theme of the 2012 meeting is “Advancing Patient Care Through Innovation” and will examine how innovation in technology and patient care delivery can lead to improved patient outcomes. The four-day scientific meeting will include six plenary papers, 408 oral presentations, 1,724 posters, and 130 digital posters in 63 tracks/topic areas.
As part of this year’s conference Michael Zelefsky, radiation oncologist with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and colleagues are presenting the study that was undertaken to determine if the use adjuvant daily treatment during and after radiotherapy for prostate cancer improves erectile function preservation.
The study involved 290 patients with clinically localized prostate cancer treated with external beam radiotherapy and or permanent interstitial implantation were enrolled in a randomized prospective trial. Medication/placebo was initiated 3 days before treatment and continued daily for 6 months, after which the drug therapy was discontinued and taken on an as-needed basis.
The study concluded the daily treatment administered during and after radiotherapy for prostate cancer resulted in improved overall sexual function compared to placebo at all time points. This is the first randomized prospective controlled-trial to demonstrate the utility of a PDE5 inhibitor as a rehabilitation strategy in the prostate cancer radiation therapy patient population.