External beam radiation therapy for localized prostate cancer

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in the male population, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), it represents the second cause of death in the American continent. In Venezuela, the latest official data correspond to the year 2012, with 5,758 cases and 2,419 deaths due to prostate cancer.  This is classified as low, intermediate and high risk. Once the disease has been staged, definitive radiotherapy will be administered to the entire prostate gland, including the seminal vesicles and bilateral pelvic nodes, especially in patients at high risk of relapse. The adjacent structures, both the genitourinary and gastrointestinal systems, are organs at risk, which could be affected when radiation therapy doses are administered, causing symptoms such as dysuria, diarrhea and causing complications. Methods: This systematic qualitative synthesis review aims to analyze what external radiotherapy techniques are, in patients with localized prostate cancer, to achieve good local control with minimal complications? Studies published in indexed journals between 2000 and 2021 were included, choosing those with the highest impact factor. Results: High-dose external beam radiation therapy and conformed treatment planning, with the use of neoadjuvant total androgen blockade, is equivalent to radical prostatectomy. The standard treatment for prostate cancer is intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Extracraneal stereotaxic radiation therapy (SBRT), can be used in patients with low or intermediate risk advanced prostate cancer, who do not require irradiation to the pelvic nodes, it can produce higher toxicities, administering more doses in a shorter time.