Results of the IROCA international clinical audit in prostate cancer radiotherapy at six comprehensive cancer centres.

To assess adherence to standard clinical practice for the diagnosis and treatment of patients undergoing prostate cancer (PCa) radiotherapy in four European countries using clinical audits as part of the international IROCA project. Multi-institutional, retrospective cohort study of 240 randomly-selected patients treated for PCa (n = 40/centre) in the year 2015 at six European hospitals. Clinical indicators applicable to general and PCa-specific radiotherapy processes were evaluated. All data were obtained directly from medical records. The audits were performed in the year 2017. Adherence to clinical protocols and practices was satisfactory, but with substantial inter-centre variability in numerous variables, as follows: staging MRI (range 27.5-87.5% of cases); presentation to multidisciplinary tumour board (2.5-100%); time elapsed between initial visit to the radiation oncology department and treatment initiation (42-102.5 days); number of treatment interruptions ≥ 1 day (7.5-97.5%). The most common deviation from standard clinical practice was inconsistent data registration, mainly failure to report data related to diagnosis, treatment, and/or adverse events. This clinical audit detected substantial inter-centre variability in adherence to standard clinical practice, most notably inconsistent record keeping. These findings confirm the value of performing clinical audits to detect deviations from standard clinical practices and procedures.

Three linked nomograms for predicting biochemical failure in prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy plus androgen deprivation therapy.

BACKGROUND: Nomograms were established to predict biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radiotherapy (RT) with a low weight of the characteristic variables of RT and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Our aim is to provide a new stratified tool for predicting BCR at 4 and 7 years in patients treated using RT with radical intent. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective, nonrandomized analysis was performed on 5044 prostate cancer (PCa) patients with median age 70 years, who received RT-with or without ADT-between November 1992 and May 2007. Median follow-up was 5.5 years. BCR was defined as a rise in serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) of 2 ng/ml over the post-treatment PSA nadir. Univariate association between predictor variables and BCR was assessed by the log-rank test, and three linked nomograms were created for multivariate prognosis of BCR-free survival. Each nomogram corresponds to a category of the Gleason score-either 6,7, or 8-10-and all of them were created from a single proportional hazards regression model stratified also by months of ADT (0, 1-6, 7-12, 13-24, 25-36, 36-60). The performance of this model was analyzed by calibration, discrimination, and clinical utility. RESULTS: Initial PSA, clinical stage, and RT dose were significant variables (p < 0.01). The model showed a good calibration. The concordance probability was 0.779, improving those obtained with other nomograms (0.587, 0.571, 0.554) in the database. Survival curves showed best clinical utility in a comparison with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) risk groups. CONCLUSION: For each Gleason score category, the nomogram provides information on the benefit of adding ADT to a specific RT dose.