Davis, Brian J.

327 Background: To report long-term outcomes of patients (pts) treated with radiotherapy (RT) for stage II testicular seminoma. Methods: Between 1974 and 2007, 52 pts received RT for clinical stage II testicular seminoma after radical inguinal orchiectomy; 3 pts were excluded due to no clinical follow-up. CT staging was used for 46 pts (94%). Estimates of overall (OS), relapse-free (RFS), and cause-specific (CSS) survival were determined using the Kaplan-Meier technique. Major cardiac event (MCE) was defined as myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting or stenting, or valve replacement. Second malignancy (SM) was defined as biopsy-confirmed malignancy occurring in the RT field. Results: The median pt age was 35 years. AJCC stage was IIA (n=23), IIB (n=7), IIC (n=15), and unknown (n=4). Three pts were treated for paraortic recurrence during surveillance for stage I seminoma. Four pts with IIB (n=1) or IIC (n=3) disease were treated with chemotherapy in addition to RT. The median total RT dose was 30.4 Gy. Prophylactic mediastinal/supraclavicular (MSCV) RT was given to 24 pts (49%). The median follow-up was 18 years (range 0.4-37). Estimates of OS, RFS, and CSS at 10 and 20 years were 94% and 81%, 79% and 70%, and 96% and 96%, respectively. OS, RFS, and CSS were not significantly different between stage groups. Recurrence occurred in 9 pts (18%); sites were MSCV (n=6), para-aortic (n=1), lung (n=1), and peritoneal cavity (n=1). Seven pts were successfully salvaged, while 2 pts died of seminoma. No patient with stage IIA/B that received prophylactic MSCV RT (n=11) experienced MSCV relapse. Among patients that did not receive prophylactic MSCV RT, 2 of 13 (15%) with stage IIA and 3 of 6 (50%) with stage IIB experienced MSCV relapse. MCE occurred in 10 pts (20%) at a median of 18 years (range 7-30) after RT. SM occurred in 5 pts (10%) at a median of 27 years (range 20-34) after RT. Conclusions: Infradiaphragmatic RT alone was associated with a significant risk of MSCV failure, particularly in patients with stage IIB disease, suggesting that chemotherapy may be the optimal treatment in this patient cohort. Most MCE and SM events occurred more than 20 years after RT, highlighting the importance of vigilant long-term follow-up.

Purpose: To present the most updated American College of Radiology consensus guidelines formed from an expert panel on treatment of locally advanced, high-risk prostate cancer Methods: The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed annually by a multidisciplinary expert panel. The guideline development and revision include an extensive analysis of current medical literature from peer-reviewed journals and the application of well-established methodologies (RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation or GRADE) to rate the appropriateness of imaging and treatment procedures for specific clinical scenarios. In those instances where evidence is lacking or equivocal, expert opinion may supplement the available evidence to recommend imaging or treatment. Results: The panel summarized the most recent and relevant literature on the topic and voted on 4 clinical variants illustrating the appropriate management of locally advanced, high-risk cancer. Numerical rating and commentary reflecting the panel consensus was given for each treatment approach in each variant. Conclusions: Aggressive local approaches including surgery followed by adjuvant XRT, beam combined with androgen deprivation therapy, and beam combined with brachytherapy have resulted in unpresented success in locally advanced, high-risk prostate cancer. By combining most recent medical literature and expert opinion, this guideline can aid clinicians in the appropriate integration of available therapeutic modalities.

Purpose To describe outcomes of salvage radiotherapy (SRT) for men with detectable prostate-specific antigen (PSA) after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer and identify associations with outcomes. Patients and Methods A total of 1,106 patients received SRT between January 1987 and July 2013, with median follow-up 8.9 years. Outcomes were estimated using Kaplan-Meier for overall survival (OS) and cumulative incidence for biochemical recurrence (BcR), distant metastases (DM), and cause-specific mortality (CSM). Variable associations with outcomes used Cox or Fine-Gray methods, as appropriate. Multiple variable analyses used backward selection with P < .05 for retention. Results In multiple variable analyses, pathologic tumor stage, Gleason score, and pre-SRT PSA were associated with BcR, DM, CSM, and OS; androgen suppression and SRT doses > 68 Gy were associated with BcR; and age was associated with OS. Each pre-SRT PSA doubling increased significantly the relative risk of BcR (hazard ratio [HR], 1.30; P < .001), DM (HR, 1.32; P < .001), CSM (HR, 1.40; P < .001), and all-cause mortality (HR, 1.12; P = .02). Using a pre-SRT PSA cutoff ≤ 0.5 versus > 0.5 ng/mL, 5-year and 10-year cumulative incidences for BcR were 42% versus 56% and 60% versus 68% ( P < .001), DM 7% versus 14% and 13% versus 25% ( P < .001), CSM 1% versus 4% and 6% versus 13% ( P < .001), and OS of 94% versus 92% and 83% versus 73% ( P > .05). Conclusion SRT outcomes are in part affected by factors associated with prostatectomy findings but may be positively affected by using SRT at lower PSA levels, including reductions in BcR, DM, CSM, and all-cause mortality. These findings argue against prolonged monitoring of detectable postprostatectomy PSA levels that delay initiation of SRT.

Abstract Clinical trials have established the benefit of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) combined with radiotherapy in prostate cancer. ADT sensitizes prostate cancer to radiotherapy-induced death at least in part through inhibition of DNA repair machinery, but for unknown reasons, adjuvant ADT provides further survival benefits. Here, we show that androgen receptor (AR) expression and activity are durably upregulated following radiotherapy in multiple human prostate cancer models in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, the degree of AR upregulation correlates with survival in vitro and time to tumor progression in animal models. We also provide evidence of AR pathway upregulation, measured by a rise in serum levels of AR-regulated hK2 protein, in nearly 20% of patients after radiotherapy. Furthermore, these men were three-fold more likely to experience subsequent biochemical failure. Collectively, these data demonstrate that radiotherapy can upregulate AR signaling after therapy to an extent that negatively affects disease progression and/or survival. Cancer Res; 75(22); 4688–96. ©2015 AACR.

Vibro-acoustography (VA) is an imaging modality that uses the radiation force of ultrasound to vibrate tissue at a low frequency and records the resulting acoustic field to produce an image that is represents object characteristics at both ultrasound as well as low (audio) frequencies. Currently, B-mode ultrasound is used for prostate imaging. This imaging method has some limitations, including the speckle noise, which limit its ability in detection of lesions and calcifications. The purpose of this study is to explore the potentials of VA for prostate imaging. VA, B-mode ultrasound, and radiography were performed on 12 excised human prostate samples and the resulting images were compared. VA system parameters were, center frequency 3 MHz, Δf=50 kHz, image area 5×5 cm, pixel size 0.2×0.2 mm. Images evaluated in terms of visibility of anatomical and pathological structures and contrast. Results showed that prostate anatomical structures, mass lesions, and calcifications were visible in the VA images taken at different depths, and VA image quality was superior to B-mode. VA images exhibited significant contrast between the central and peripheral zones with enhanced borders. It is concluded that, with further development, VA may become suitable modality for in prostate imaging.

AbstractBackground: Zn-α2 glycoprotein (ZAG) is a relatively abundant glycoprotein that has potential as a biomarker for prostate cancer. We present a high-flow liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for measuring serum ZAG concentrations by proteolytic cleavage of the protein and quantification of a unique peptide.Methods: We selected the ZAG tryptic peptide 147EIPAWVPEDPAAQITK162 as the intact protein for quantification and used a stable isotope-labeled synthetic peptide with this sequence as an internal standard. Standards using recombinant ZAG in bovine serum albumin, 50 g/L, and a pilot series of patient sera were denatured, reduced, alkylated, and digested with trypsin. The concentration of ZAG was calculated from a dose–response curve of the ratio of the relative abundance of the ZAG tryptic peptide to internal standard.Results: The limit of detection for ZAG in serum was 0.08 mg/L, and the limit of quantification was 0.32 mg/L with a linear dynamic range of 0.32 to 10.2 mg/L. Replicate digests from pooled sera run during a period of 3 consecutive days showed intraassay imprecision (CV) of 5.0% to 6.3% and interassay imprecision of 4.4% to 5.9%. Mean (SD) ZAG was higher in 25 men with prostate cancer [7.59 (2.45) mg/L] than in 20 men with nonmalignant prostate disease [6.21 (1.65) mg/L, P = 0.037] and 6 healthy men [3.65 (0.71) mg/L, P = 0.0007].Conclusions: This LC-MS/MS assay is reproducible and can be used to evaluate the clinical utility of ZAG as a cancer biomarker.