Intensity-modulated radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

Overview

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) represents a new paradigm in radiation treatment planning and delivery for treatment of prostate cancer with enormous potential. Preliminary data indicate that this highly conformal treatment technique can effectively reduce acute and late-occurring toxicities, improving the quality of life of the treated patient and serving as the optimal dose escalation tool. IMRT produces radiation distributions capable of delivering different dose prescriptions to multiple target sites, providing a new opportunity for differential dose painting to increase the dose selectively to specific, image-defined regions within the prostate. Clinical trials will be necessary to define more clearly the true extent of improved tumor control and reduction in normal tissue complications with IMRT in the treatment of prostate cancer.