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Biochemical Recurrence: A Valuable Endpoint?

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Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer

Part of the book series: Medical Radiology ((Med Radiol Radiat Oncol))

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Abstract

Clinically relevant outcomes such as distant metastases and death from prostate cancer do not occur for many years after definitive treatment for localized prostate cancer. In view of the long natural history of prostate cancer, the identification and validation of surrogate endpoints that can be measured earlier and correlate with clinical progression or survival are of great utility in clinical cancer research. With the introduction of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) as a marker in the mid-1980s, PSA has become an important tool for monitoring disease progression following definitve treatment of localized prostate cancer and the concept of “biochemical” recurrence, an event that precedes clinical recurrence by many years, has been developed. Biochemical failure has become widely accepted to evaluate the effectiveness of definitive local therapies and is used for both research and clinical purposes. Biochemical recurrence has been investigated as a prognostic factor and as a potential surrogate endpoint in different stages of disease; however, on the basis of conflicting results from previous studies, a consensus on the ability of biochemical failure to act as a reliable surrogate endpoint for clinical progression and survival has not yet been reached.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 32, 8036, Graz, Austria

    Tanja Langsenlehner

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  1. Tanja Langsenlehner
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Correspondence to Tanja Langsenlehner .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen, Schwestern Linz, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria

    Hans Geinitz

  2. University of California, San Francisco Department of Radiation Oncology, San Francisco, California, USA

    Mack Roach III

  3. The Institute of Cancer Research Sutton, Sutton Surrey, United Kingdom

    Nicholas van As

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Langsenlehner, T. (2013). Biochemical Recurrence: A Valuable Endpoint?. In: Geinitz, H., Roach III, M., van As, N. (eds) Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer. Medical Radiology(). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2013_904

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/174_2013_904

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-37098-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-37099-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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