Relationship between prostate volume changes and treatment duration of neoadjuvant androgen deprivation during intensity-modulated radiation therapy for Japanese patients with prostate cancer

The application of neoadjuvant androgen deprivation (NAD) in prostate cancer leads to a reduction in prostate volume, and the trends in volume reduction differ according to the treatment duration of NAD. A reduction in volume during external beam radiation therapy may lead to the exposure of normal tissues to an unexpected dose. In fact, prostate volume reductions have primarily been reported in European and American institutions. Although the prostate volume of Japanese patients is known to be small, the trends in prostate volume change during radiation therapy remain unclear. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the changes in prostate volume of Japanese patients during intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with NAD. Nineteen Japanese patients with prostate cancer underwent IMRT with NAD. Kilovoltage computed tomography (CT) images were obtained for treatment planning and verification of the treatment position for each treatment fraction. The patients were divided into 3 groups based on the duration of NAD, as follows: NAD < 3 months (short NAD: S-NAD), 3 months ≤ NAD < 6 months (middle NAD: M-NAD), and NAD ≥ 6 months (long NAD: L-NAD). The prostate volume reductions at the 36th treatment fraction, relative to the planning CT, were 7.8%, 2.0%, and 1.7% for the S-NAD, M-NAD, and L-NAD groups, respectively. Prostate volume shrunk greater in the S-NAD group than in the M-NAD and L-NAD groups; this finding was consistent with those of previous studies. The prostate volume changes in Japanese patients were smaller compared to those in European and American patients.