Both pretreatment prostate-specific antigen level and posttreatment biochemical failure are independent predictors of overall survival after radiotherapy for prostate cancer

Abstract

Purpose To assess the impact of pretreatment prognostic factors plus subsequent biochemical failure on overall survival after radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Methods and materials We analyzed the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and survival records of 1571 men with clinically localized prostate cancer treated with external beam radiotherapy monotherapy at the former Queensland Radium Institute between 1990 and 1997. The pretreatment PSA level, biopsy Gleason score, clinical stage, patient age, and the development of biochemical failure were assessed in relationship to overall survival and cause-specific survival, using fixed, as well as time-dependent, statistics. Results The median follow..