Two-week radiotherapy confirmed as protected and efficient as eight-week course for prostate most cancers: 10-year follow-up

Prostate most cancers is essentially the most generally identified most cancers in males worldwide, accounting for greater than 1.4 million new instances annually. For a lot of sufferers, radiotherapy is a regular therapy choice that provides outcomes corresponding to surgical procedure, significantly for localized illness.

As an outpatient process, it permits males to keep up a lot of their every day routine throughout therapy. Nevertheless, conventional radiotherapy schedules usually span a number of weeks, which might be burdensome for sufferers and put strain on well being care buildings and radiotherapy capability.

A serious medical trial (HYPO-RT-PC) has proven {that a} considerably shorter course of radiotherapy for localized prostate most cancers is simply as protected and efficient as the standard eight-week schedule—even 10 years after therapy.

The findings, introduced at ESTRO 2025, the annual congress of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology, give each sufferers and docs better confidence in selecting this short-course method, additionally known as “extremely hypo-fractionated radiotherapy.” The paper can be revealed within the journal Radiotherapy and Oncology.

The examine, led by researchers in Sweden, discovered that delivering precision radiotherapy over simply two and a half weeks is equally profitable in beating prostate most cancers as the usual eight-week method. A decade after therapy, each choices produced comparable illness management charges and survival.

“These long-term findings affirm earlier five-year outcomes from the trial, exhibiting that delivering fewer, greater doses over a shorter interval works simply in addition to the usual method—not simply in concept, however in real-world medical observe,” concludes Affiliate Professors Per Nilsson, senior radiation physicist, and Adalsteinn Gunnlaugsson, radiation oncologist, who led the 10-year consequence evaluation of the HYPO-RT-PC trial, at Skåne College Hospital and Lund College, Sweden.

“For sufferers, this implies much less disruption to every day life and doubtlessly decrease well being care prices—with out compromising outcomes and security.”

This massive Section III medical trial enrolled 1,200 males with intermediate- to high-risk localized prostate most cancers. Contributors have been randomly assigned to obtain both:

• Quick-course radiotherapy: 42.7 Grey (Gy) delivered in seven periods over 2.5 weeks
• Normal-course radiotherapy: 78.0 Gy delivered in 39 periods over 8 weeks

Researchers assessed survival, most cancers recurrence, and treatment-related negative effects, together with urinary and bowel signs.

Key outcomes after 10 years:

• Failure-free survival (no return of most cancers or want for added therapy): 72% within the short-course group vs. 65% in the usual group
• Total survival: 81% for short-course vs. 79% for normal
• Prostate cancer-specific mortality: 4% in each teams
• Unwanted side effects: Urinary and bowel signs have been comparable in each teams, and most have been gentle to average.

“These findings affirm that the shorter course doesn’t improve long-term negative effects and gives equally sturdy most cancers management,” added Camilla Thellenberg-Karlsson, MD, Ph.D., at Umeå College, who introduced the outcomes on the ESTRO assembly.

These outcomes reveal how fashionable radiotherapy approaches could make therapy extra environment friendly, accessible, and patient-friendly—with out sacrificing effectiveness or security.

Professor Matthias Guckenberger, President of ESTRO, added, “Shorter therapy schedules imply sufferers can return to their regular lives extra shortly.

“Lowering therapy time to only two and a half weeks is a significant win for each sufferers and well being methods.

“This examine exemplifies the sort of impactful, practice-changing analysis we’re proud to showcase at ESTRO 2025.”