Keywords:
Genital / Reproductive system male, Oncology, Other, Brachytherapy, Outcomes, Toxicity
Authors:
W. L. Ong, J. Millar
DOI:
10.26044/ranzcr2022/R-0140
Purpose
Comprehensive understanding of the late treatment-related toxicities is important in guiding treatment decision-making for men with localized prostate cancer, since these men often survive for many years post-treatment. Prevalence and incidence are commonly used to report late treatment-related toxicities. However, these 'traditional' toxicity reporting may be misleading, given that some of the treatment-related toxicities may not be long-lasting or persistent.
Late, persistent, substantial treatment-related symptoms (LAPERS) is a novel methodological approach to report on clinically relevant and long-lasting symptoms after treatment. The concept of LAPERS was first conceived and reported in a cohort of women with cervical cancer treated with radiation therapy in the EMBRACE study (Kirchheiner K et al 2020). We aim to apply the LAPERS methodology to report long-term toxicity outcomes following low dose rate brachytherapy (LDR-BT) for prostate cancer