Differences in disease presentation, treatment outcomes, and toxicities in African American patients treated with radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVES

We analyzed differences in disease presentation, outcomes, and toxicities between African American (AA) and White (W) men treated with definitive radiation therapy for their prostate cancer.

METHODS

Three thousand one hundred eighty cases of prostate cancer treated with various radiation modalities at a single institution were reviewed. The cohort consisted of 92% W patients and 8% AA patients. Clinical and pathologic characteristics at presentation, treatment outcomes, and related toxicities were analyzed between the 2 groups. The median follow-up was 6.6 years (0.6 to 22.4 y).

RESULTS

At presentation, AA men were younger (P<0.001) and more likely to have a Gleason score of ≥7 (47.9% vs. 39.2%, P=0.006). No difference in the 5 or 10-year rates of biochemical failure, disease-free survival, or distant metastases were noted. Although there was a trend for improved 10-year overall survival for AA men (65.3% vs. 57.4%, P=0.06), cause-specific survival was significantly improved at 10 years (98.6% vs. 90.6%, P=0.002). Similar findings were seen when controlling for radiation therapy dose, the use of hormonal therapy, and modality of radiation therapy used. Overall, genitourinary/gastrointestinal toxicities were similar regardless of the modality used.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite differences in presenting characteristics, AA men did not have inferior clinical outcomes but rather improved cause-specific survival when treated with standard of care radiation therapy. Regardless of the treatment modality used, toxicities between AA and W men were comparable.