Radiation therapy in adenocarcinoma of the prostate with pelvic lymph node involvement on lymphadenectomy

From 1970 to 1978, 135 of 429 patients with adenocarcinoma of the prostate (31%) had pelvic lymph nodal involvement at the time of bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy and Iodine-125 interstitial implantation of the prostate at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Postoperative external irradiation was given in 28 patients to the whole pelvis alone or with the para-aortic region. Determinate 5 year survival was 54% with (7/13) and without (13/24) external irradiation. Of 123 patients with 6 months to 7 years of follow-up, 31 (25%) with local control of the primary tumor developed distant metastases, mainly osseous, and 20 (16%) had local recurrence or persistence with or without distant spread