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Under‐utilisation of high‐dose‐rate brachytherapy boost in men with intermediate‐high risk prostate cancer treated with external beam radiotherapy
Author(s) -
Ong Wee Loon,
Evans Sue M,
Millar Jeremy L
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of medical imaging and radiation oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.31
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1754-9485
pISSN - 1754-9477
DOI - 10.1111/1754-9485.12699
Subject(s) - medicine , prostate cancer , brachytherapy , external beam radiotherapy , radiation therapy , population , logistic regression , multivariate analysis , urology , cancer , environmental health
The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of high‐dose‐rate brachytherapy ( HDR ‐ BT ) boost with definitive external beam radiotherapy ( EBRT ) in prostate cancer (CaP) management. Methods The study population comprised men with intermediate‐high risk CaP captured in the population‐based Prostate Cancer Outcome Registry Victoria ( PCOR ‐Vic), treated with EBRT from January 2010 to December 2015. The primary outcome is the proportion of men who received HDR ‐ BT boost. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to evaluate the effect of patient‐, tumour‐ and treatment‐factors on the likelihood of HDR ‐ BT use. Medicare Benefit Schedule ( MBS ) data was accessed to evaluate the Australia‐wide pattern of HDR ‐ BT use. Results One thousand eight hundred and six patients were included in this study – 886 (49%) intermediate‐risk, and 920 (51%) high‐risk CaP patients. Overall, only 124 (7%) patients had EBRT + HDR ‐ BT – 47 (5%) intermediate‐risk and 77 (8%) high‐risk CaP patients ( P = 0.01). There is higher proportion of patients who had HDR ‐ BT in public institutions (7% public vs. 3% private, P = 0.005) and in metropolitan centres (9% metropolitan vs. 2% regional, P < 0.001). In multivariate analyses, older patients were less likely to have HDR ‐ BT ( OR = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.89–0.94, P < 0.001), while patients with high‐risk CaP ( OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.3–2.7; P = 0.002) treated in metropolitan centres ( OR = 5.0; 95% CI = 2.6–9.8; P < 0.001) and public institutions ( OR = 3.8; 95% CI = 1.5–9.4; P = 0.005) were more likely to have EBRT + HDR ‐ BT . There was significant decline in numbers of HDR ‐ BT performed throughout Australia, from 313 cases in 2010 to 125 cases in 2015. Conclusion High‐dose‐rate brachytherapy is under‐utilised with EBRT in this contemporary population‐based cohort of Victorian men with CaP. The decline in HDR ‐ BT use was also observed nationally.