Abstract

The radiation doses received by erectile tissue may contribute to erectile dysfunction after treatment of prostate cancer. This is the first description of the ability to limit the dose received by the penile bulb (PB) and corporal bodies (CB) using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).Twenty-three patients with palpation Stage T1c-T2bN0M0 prostate cancer received IMRT alone. The dose prescribed to the planning target volume was 74-78 Gy. All patients underwent CT and MRI simulation to define the target and normal structures. Three plans with identical beam arrangements and energy were generated for each patient, with varying dose constraints for the PB and CB: no dose constraint, intermediate-dose constraint (20 Gy and 15 Gy, respectively) and low-dose constraint (15 Gy and 7 Gy, respectively). All plans were normalized, such that 95% of the planning target volume received at least 100% of the prescribed dose. For each plan, the ability to meet prostate dose homogeneity criteria (PHC; prostate maximal dose /=50% without significantly compromising the PHC, RTC, or treatment duration. A Phase III randomized trial has been designed to test the clinical significance of the erectile tissue-sparing technique described here.

View details for DOI 10.1016/S0360-3016(03)01617-1

View details for Web of Science ID 000188934600013

View details for PubMedID 14967429