Adjuvant androgen deprivation impacts late rectal toxicity after conformal radiotherapy of prostate carcinoma

To evaluate whether androgen deprivation impacts late rectal toxicity in patients with localised prostate carcinoma treated with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy. One hundred and eighty-two consecutive patients treated with 3DCRT between 1995 and 1999 at our Institution and with at least 12 months follow-up were analysed. three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy consisted in 70–76 Gy delivered with a conformal 3-field arrangement to the prostate±seminal vesicles. As part of treatment, 117 patients (64%) received neo-adjuvant and concomitant androgen deprivation while 88 (48.4%) patients were continued on androgen deprivation at the end of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy as well. Late rectal toxicity was graded according to the RTOG morbidity scoring scale. Median follow up is 25.8 (range: 12–70.2 months). The 2-year actuarial likelihood of grade 2–4 rectal toxicity was 21.8±3.2%. A multivariate analysis identified the use of adjuvant androgen deprivation (P=0.0196) along with the dose to the posterior wall of the rectum on the central axis (P=0.0055) and the grade of acute rectal toxicity (P=0.0172) as independent predictors of grade 2–4 late rectal toxicity. The 2-year estimates of grade 2–4 late rectal toxicity for patients receiving or not adjuvant hormonal treatment were 30.3±5.2% and 14.1±3.8%, respectively. Rectal tolerance is reduced in presence of adjuvant androgen deprivation.