Oncological outcomes for patients with locally advanced prostate cancer treated with neoadjuvant endocrine and external‐beam radiation therapy followed by adjuvant continuous/intermittent endocrine therapy in an open‐label, randomized, phase 3 trial

BackgroundTo date, research has not determined the optimal procedure for adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer (PCa) treated for 6 months with neoadjuvant ADT and external‐beam radiation therapy (EBRT).MethodsA multicenter, randomized, phase 3 trial enrolled 303 patients with locally advanced PCa between 2001 and 2006. Participants were treated with neoadjuvant ADT for 6 months. Then, 280 patients whose prostate‐specific antigen levels were less than pretreatment levels and less than 10 ng/mL were randomized. All 280 participants were treated with 72 Gy of EBRT in combination with adjuvant ADT for 8 months. Thereafter, participants were assigned to long‐term ADT (5 years in all; arm 1) or intermittent ADT (arm 2). The primary endpoint was modified biochemical relapse–free survival (bRFS) with respect to nonmetastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC) progression, clinical relapse, or any cause of death.ResultsThe median follow‐up time after randomization was 8.2 years. Among the 136 and 144 men assigned to trial arms 1 and 2, respectively, 24 and 30 progressed to nmCRPC or clinical relapse, and 5 and 6 died of PCa. The 5‐year modified bRFS rates were 84.8% and 82.8% in trial arms 1 and 2, respectively (hazard ratio, 1.132; 95% confidence interval, 0.744‐1.722).ConclusionsAlthough modified bRFS data did not demonstrate noninferiority for arm 2, intermittent adjuvant ADT after EBRT with 14 months of neoadjuvant and short‐term adjuvant ADT is a promising treatment strategy, especially in a population of responders after 6 months of ADT for locally advanced PCa.