Prostate cancer ranks the third most common male cancer in Hong Kong. Majority of patients present as localised disease and are amendable to cure, and radiotherapy is a standard of care in the definitive treatment of these patients. For many decades, external beam radiotherapy involved conventional fractionation delivered over eight weeks, and cancer survivors at significant risk of developing long term radiotherapy-related toxicities. In the recent two decades, with increased disease understanding and evolution in radiotherapy technology and image guidance to allow improved treatment precision, paradigm has shifted to the adoption of hypofractionated treatment schedules. Various randomized trials have demonstrated non-inferior clinical outcomes in patients treated with hypofractionated radiotherapy. Furthermore, harnessing on the radiobiological advantages, growing evidence support the efficacy and safety of ultra-hypofractionation, or stereotactic body radiotherapy, as standard of care for selected patients with localised prostate cancer.
While advancements in radiotherapy techniques have improved precision, they have also increased treatment complexity, and demand for the concerted effort of a dedicated multidisciplinary team. This session will provide an overview of the clinical evidence on hypofractionation and stereotactic body radiotherapy for prostate cancer, discuss on practical considerations in radiotherapy treatment planning, and share on local experience in hypofractionation and multidisciplinary care.
