Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer: Current Controversies and Optimisation Opportunities

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in men worldwide. The rate of patients presenting with locally advanced prostate cancer has declined in recent decades, mainly due to prostate-specific antigen screening, but the management of these patients still remains controversial. Current literature suggests that the standard of care for these patients is a combination approach with radiation therapy and androgen deprivation therapy. However, there remain many unresolved issues, including the role of dose-escalated radiation therapy, the additional benefit of surgery and the role of systemic therapy, both standard chemotherapeutic agents and novel agents. Furthermore, in the era of personalised medicine, additional research is needed to evaluate the role of biomarkers to better predict the risk of local and systemic relapse in this population. (C) 2013 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.