Only 2 patients (0.9%) reported a rectal toxicity of grade 2 (moderate diarrhea in both cases), which resolved in 1 patient and improved significantly in the second patient, shortly after treatment. No patients reported acute GI Grade 3 or 4 GI toxicity. The 7-year incidence of Grade 2 and 3 late rectal toxicities were 1% and 0.4%, respectively. One patient (0.4%) reported Grade 3 GI toxicity (daily rectal bleeding requiring transfusion, which resolved after cauterization). Approximately 1 year after Selleckchem Y-27632 completing radiation therapy, 1 patient was found to have

a midsigmoid stricture with fibrosis and angulation of the sigmoid distally on regular screening colonoscopy. The patient did not complain of abdominal pain and had regular bowel movements. The NU7441 area of the stricture was laparoscopically resected and final pathology was consistent with diverticulitis and abscess formation. The location of the stricture was inside the treatment field of the EBRT, but outside of the high dose region of the brachytherapy treatment volume. In the management of patients with intermediate- and high-risk prostate adenocarcinoma, dose-escalation studies have demonstrated an improvement in tumor control, disease-free survival, and freedom from DMs [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] and [19]. Yet, the benefits of dose escalation must be weighed against the risks of toxicity to the surrounding normal tissue structures. For patients with

disease localized to the prostate, HDR brachytherapy has been shown to be a favorable method of increasing the intraprostatic dose while minimizing the dose to peripheral sensitive structures. Our results indicate that a treatment regimen combining EBRT with a HDR brachytherapy boost is associated with a low likelihood of developing Grade 3 or higher GU or GI toxicities. An interesting finding in our report was the observation of improved outcomes in the high-risk patient cohort when higher BED doses were delivered with the HDR. Among patients with BED doses >190 Gy (α/β ratio of 2), the 7-year PSA relapse-free survival outcome for high-risk patients was 81% compared with 60% for patients who received

lower dose levels (p = 0.02). In addition, dose escalation for this high-risk selleck chemicals llc cohort was also associated with a reduction in improvement in the 7-year DMs-free survival outcomes from 60% to 89% for those who received lower and higher BED dose levels. These improved biochemical control outcomes for high-risk patients using higher doses appear to be consistent with what has been reported in the literature (See Table 5). Martinez et al. (20) had reported the outcomes of a cohort of 472 patients with intermediate- and high-risk disease treated with HDR brachytherapy and supplemental EBRT who were followed for a median of 8 years. The authors noted improved biochemical control and DMs-free survival outcomes with higher BED values. In that report, an α/β ratio of 1.