Dr. Tagawa Discusses Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer

Scott T. Tagawa, MD, Richard A. Stratton Associate Professor in Hematology and Oncology, associate professor of clinical medicine & urology at Weill Cornell Medicine, associate attending physician, NewYork-Presbyterian—Weill Cornell Medical Center, discusses radiotherapy in the treatment of patients with prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is a radiosensitive disease. Tagawa says some men are cured with localized radiation, and others are treated with a palliative approach to decrease pain. Importantly, Tagawa notes that the vast majority patients with prostate cancer will express PSMA. Over the last 15 years, a series of phase I and II trials have shown that higher doses of radiation lead to more responses in terms of PSA, as well as longer overall survival. By delivering the same or higher total dose in a fractionated pattern, Tagawa says that the higher dose is made more tolerable.

Currently, fractionated dose Lutetium-177 [¹⁷⁷Lu]-PSMA-617 is being evaluated in patients with progressive metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer. Phase I data showed that a dose-escalation of ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 is safe up to 22.2 GBq per cycle with fractionated dosing. Additionally, promising early efficacy and tolerability signals were observed.