Report on the results of radiotherapy of carcinomas of the prostate in the years 1973-81 at the Department of Radiotherapy and Special Oncology

The analysis of patient histories from the Department of Radiation Therapy and Special Oncology at the Radiology Centre of the Hanover Medical School, covers the years from 1973-1981. The case histories of 276 patients suffering from prostatic cancer were available. 68 patients received curative radiation treatment. Of these, 63 had had no previous treatment and 5 had had a prostatectomy prior to radiotherapy. They were analysed by age and life expectancy. The second group contains 132 patients whose mamillae had been irridiated prior to hormone treatment for the prevention of mastodynia. Their life expectance was not analysed. A third group contained 75 patients receiving palliative radiotherapy to achieve a lessening of the symptoms: (57 x bone metastases, 11 x lymph node metastases, 3 x soft tissue metastases). The most interesting question was the one concerning the significance of the primary, curative, locoregional radiotherapy of the prostatic cancer, taken from the 5-years-survival-rate in the life-table-analysis. The relevant figures, split up according to the tumor stage on initial diagnosis, were compared with data from the literature concerning irridiated, prostatectomied and hormonally treated patients with prostatic cancer. The 70 percent life expectancy rate 5 years after diagnosis in stage B, and the more than 50 percent 5-years-survival-rate in stage C, are comparable to the results of numerous studies carried out with a total of several hundred patients. (orig.)