(ChemotherapyAdvisor) – Arab-American men treated with definitive radiation therapy for intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer experience poorer clinical outcomes than European- or African-Americans, according to a study presented at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)’s 2012 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.
“Ethnicity may play a role in clinical outcomes following definitive radiation therapy with our findings suggesting worse outcomes for Arab Americans with intermediate and high-risk disease,” reported lead author Mohamad Badi Dabjan, MD, of the Radiation Oncology Department at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak in Royal Oak, Michigan.
Dr. Dabjan and his coauthors assessed clinical outcomes among 2,672 European Americans (n=2,248), African Americans (n=287), and Arab Americans/Chaldeans (n=137) who were treated for prostate cancer with definitive radiotherapy between 1991 and 2011. (Chaldeans are people of Assyrian descent.) The median radiation dose for these patients was 72 Gy (range, 19-145 Gy). Median patient age was 69 years and median PSA before treatment was 6.0 (range, 0.1-132.6).
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At a median follow-up of 5.0 years, American/Chaldean men with high-risk prostate cancer had significantly lower disease-free survival (DFS) rates (54.5%) than European Americans (81.7%) or African Americans (88.6%; P=0.01), the coauthors reported.
At 5.0 years, Arab American/Chaldean men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer had a lower cancer-specific survival (CSS) rate than rates seen among European or African American men (P=0.03), and a trend toward modestly reduced DFS rates (84.0% among Arab Americans/Chaldeans versus 86.4% for African Americans and 85.4% among European-Americans; P=0.07), the researchers noted.
There were no other overall differences in biochemical control between men of different ethnicities, disease-free survival, cause-specific survival, or overall survival, the authors reported.
