Cancer Control and Complications of Salvage Local Therapy After Failure of Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer: A Systematic Review

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines currently endorse salvage local therapy as a reasonable alternative to observation or androgen-deprivation therapy for select men with a biopsy-proven local recurrence after definitive radiation for prostate cancer. Patients being considered for salvage therapy should have had localized disease at presentation, a prostate-specific antigen < 10 at recurrence, a life expectancy >10 years at recurrence, and a negative metastatic workup. In this systematic review, we synthesize the current literature describing the oncologic efficacy and toxicity profile of salvage brachytherapy, prostatectomy, cryotherapy, and high-intensity focused ultrasound. We found 5-year biochemical control rates to be similar across treatments, in the range of 52%-56%, although patient selection and definition of failure was variable. Toxicity profiles were also distinct between local salvage modalities.