Hypofractionated Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer

Dear Colleagues,

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in males in the world. Treatment depends on the stage presented at diagnosis, while taking into account patient characteristics. Surgery, radiation therapy, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), and their combinations are the main invasive treatments for prostate cancer in most cases. Radiotherapy is an established radical treatment, an adjuvant treatment, and a salvage with or without ADT.

The recent technological advances in radiotherapy have introduced three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3-DCRT), intense modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), and image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). With these new radiotherapy techniques it is possible to achieve dose escalation, toxicity reduction, and alternative fractionated schedules of radiotherapy for prostate cancer, especially in the setting of radical treatment. In the literature, the efficacy of dose escalation of radiotherapy in prostate cancer is translated in terms of local control and overall survival. The concept of hypofractionated radiotherapy in prostate cancer is based on the observation of radiosensitivity on high fraction with low α/β values relatively similar to those of late-responding normal regional tissues. Based on the radiobiology of prostate cancer, hypofractionation is an alternative approach for a better outcome. Hypofractionation radiotherapy has been compared with conventional radiotherapy in numerous phase III clinical studies for localized prostate cancer. A variety of different schedules from moderate to extreme hypofractionation have been compared to classic regimens of radiotherapy for prostate cancer patients.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for localized prostate cancer is an alternative approach compared to conventional radiotherapy. Recent studies have evaluated the safety and efficacy of this strategy for localized prostate cancer. Furthermore, hypofractionation and SBRT have also been evaluated in the setting of oligometastatic prostate cancer. Hypofractionation is a field of active scientific research for prostate cancer, and is evaluated in a variety of different therapeutic settings.

This Special Issue is focused on the scope of hypofractionated radiotherapy in prostate cancer. The aim is to examine the utilization of hypofractionated radiotherapy, and the various regimens delivered with contemporary radiotherapy techniques. The use hypofractionation has a wide range of different topics regarding radiotherapy and multidisciplinary approaches. The coverage of hypofractionated radiotherapy for prostate cancer, not only through radiotherapy but across multidisciplinary research fields, will provide a more comprehensive and critical perspective.

Dr. Vassilis Kouloulias
Dr. Andromachi Kougioumtzopoulou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Medicina is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• prostate cancer
• moderate or extreme hypofractionation
• radiobiology
• biomarkers
• efficacy
• toxicity
• quality of life
• stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT)
• oligometastatic
• cost-effectiveness analysis