4. Conclusions
To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review of only prospective single-arm and randomized studies investigating the efficacy of SBRT. We found that PCa patients with a low metastatic burden may benefit from SBRT in terms of both local and biochemical control. In addition, we observed that SBRT consistently maintains its efficacy over time, which represents a novel and clinically meaningful finding for the management of PCa patients with a low metastatic burden.
In this clinical setting, these data support the biological rationale beyond MDTs. As the dissemination of subcellular clones from the metastatic sites to the rest of the body is prevented, patients’ oncological outcomes can be improved, and treatment-free survival prolonged, with a positive impact on quality of life (QoL). The benefits of MDTs can be higher than those of ADT, particularly in patients wishing to delay systemic treatments for QoL or comorbidity concerns. Data also reveal that MDTs are equivalent to systemic therapies from an economic perspective, as they have comparable cost effectiveness [
[12]- Parikh N.R.
- Chang E.M.
- Nickols N.G.
- et al.
Cost-effectiveness of metastasis-directed therapy in oligorecurrent hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.
].
Overall, the oligometastatic state represents an intermediate step before the onset of widespread metastatic disease, with different chances of curability [
[9]- Battaglia A.
- De Meerleer G.
- Tosco L.
- et al.
Novel insights into the management of oligometastatic prostate cancer: a comprehensive review.
]. While recent phase III randomized trials [
[23]- Parker C.C.
- James N.D.
- Brawley C.D.
- et al.
Radiotherapy to the primary tumour for newly diagnosed, metastatic prostate cancer (STAMPEDE): a randomised controlled phase 3 trial.
] have clearly demonstrated an advantage in overall survival from irradiating the primary tumor for patients with synchronous metastatic disease and a low metastatic burden, the scenario in the metachronous setting is still under debate and suffers the lack of evidence-based indications [
[24]- Burdett S.
- Boevé L.M.
- Ingleby F.C.
- et al.
Prostate radiotherapy for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer: a STOPCAP systematic review and meta-analysis.
].
Certainly, data supporting MDT, in particular SBRT, could not be ignored even if provided mostly by retrospective studies. A recent systematic review by Viani et al [
[25]- Viani G.A.
- Arruda C.V.
- Hamamura A.C.
- Faustino A.C.
- Freitas Bendo Danelichen A.
- Guimarães F.S.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer recurrence: a meta-analysis.
], including 23 observational studies with a total of 1441 lesions treated with SBRT, showed excellent rates of local control (0.976; 95% CI, 0.96–0.98) and ADT-free survival of 20.1 mo, with low rates of acute and late moderate-to-severe toxicity events (1.3% and 1.2%, respectively).
Comparable findings were reported by Yan et al [
[26]- Yan M.
- Moideen N.
- Bratti V.F.
- Moraes F.Y.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in metachronous oligometastatic prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis on the current prospective evidence.
], who identified ten, mainly observational, studies for a total of 653 patients and 1111 metachronous lesions treated with SBRT. Other than confirming both the safety and the efficacy of SBRT in this subset of patients, the authors focused on short- and long-term effects on ADT. In particular, they emphasized that a prolonged ADT-free interval may not only preserve patients’ QoL, but also limit the so-called “financial toxicity” for the healthcare systems, both in terms of ADT administration and ADT relatable side effects (ie, coronary artery disease, osteoporotic fractures, and metabolic syndrome).
The only phase II studies included in our analysis [
3- Ost P.
- Reynders D.
- Decaestecker K.
- et al.
Surveillance or metastasis-directed therapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer recurrence: a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase II trial.
,
16- Phillips R.
- Shi W.Y.
- Deek M.
- et al.
Outcomes of observation vs stereotactic ablative radiation for oligometastatic prostate cancer: the ORIOLE phase 2 randomized clinical trial.
] have reported promising outcomes in terms of disease control in fairly comparable populations (namely, non–castration-resistant patients enrolled with one to three metastatic lesions). These findings were confirmed also considering a longer follow-up. In fact, during the last American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) genitourinary meeting [
], 5-yr ADT-free survival was confirmed to be higher in the MDT arm than in the surveillance arm (34% vs 8%; HR = 0.57) in the STOMP trial [
[3]- Ost P.
- Reynders D.
- Decaestecker K.
- et al.
Surveillance or metastasis-directed therapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer recurrence: a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase II trial.
]. Even though the outcomes of benefit were demonstrated clearly, it should be pointed out that in both trials, the control arm consisted of surveillance only, which could potentially affect the clinical implications of these results.
Nevertheless, while the results from comparative phase II and III trials are awaited [
,
15- De Bruycker A.
- Spiessens A.
- Dirix P.
- et al.
PEACE V—Salvage Treatment of OligoRecurrent nodal prostate cancer Metastases (STORM): a study protocol for a randomized controlled phase II trial.
], this body of evidence, together with the one provided by observational trials [
10- Kneebone A.
- Hruby G.
- Ainsworth H.
- et al.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer detected via prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography.
,
11- Siva S.
- Bressel M.
- Murphy D.G.
- et al.
Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) for oligometastatic prostate cancer: a prospective clinical trial.
,
13- Bowden P.
- See A.W.
- Frydenberg M.
- et al.
Fractionated stereotactic body radiotherapy for up to five prostate cancer oligometastases: Interim outcomes of a prospective clinical trial.
,
17- Muacevic A.
- Kufeld M.
- Rist C.
- Wowra B.
- Stief C.
- Staehler M.
Safety and feasibility of image-guided robotic radiosurgery for patients with limited bone metastases of prostate cancer.
], currently represents the strongest evidence supporting the use of SBRT as a safe and effective MDT for metachronous PCa patients.
Other than focusing solely on disease control rates, which we know to be quite good, our analysis also considered the timeline of disease progression that quantifies how this control of disease is maintained over time.
We obtained clear results that the maximum efficacy in terms of b-PFS and survival probabilities is obtained within the first 6 mo following treatment completion. Notably, such oncological advantage is still maintained at 24 mo for a significant proportion of patients. As a consequence, it is straightforward to understand how the selection of proper patients is crucial. Specifically, identification of patients at a higher risk of rapid progression could better inform practitioners and lead to the prescription of more aggressive treatments.
As mentioned above, given the lack of specific biomarkers, the only method to identify the oligometastatic state of PCa with high precision relies on technological advances in diagnostic procedures. In recent years, PSMA-PET/CT has been emerging as one of the most sensitive imaging techniques to detect metastasis even in the presence of PSA levels inferior to 0.5 ng/ml [
]. The ORIOLE trial [
[16]- Phillips R.
- Shi W.Y.
- Deek M.
- et al.
Outcomes of observation vs stereotactic ablative radiation for oligometastatic prostate cancer: the ORIOLE phase 2 randomized clinical trial.
] has demonstrated that 16 out of 36 patients (44.4%) had baseline PET-avid lesions, which were not detected by conventional imaging (CT, MRI, or bone scan) and therefore not included in the RT treatment field. Importantly, as many as six out of these 16 patients (37.5%) experienced progression at 6 mo, while the same occurred only in one out of the 19 patients (5.2%) who had all the lesions treated, demonstrating that accurate imaging is of paramount importance in this setting of patients as it might highly impact the efficacy of MDTs. Finally, we need to classify patients based on other clinical characteristics such as the timing from the treatment of the primary tumor and the appearance of the metastases. This first disease-free interval could be a sign of illness aggressiveness and help identify patients at higher risk.
Besides imaging, the best approach to irradiate nodal oligorecurrent PCa patients is also discussed [
29- Tran S.
- Jorcano S.
- Falco T.
- Lamanna G.
- Miralbell R.
- Zilli T.
Oligorecurrent nodal prostate cancer: long-term results of an elective nodal irradiation approach.
,
30- Vaugier L.
- Palpacuer C.
- Rio E.
- et al.
Early toxicity of a phase 2 trial of combined salvage radiation therapy and hormone therapy in oligometastatic pelvic node relapses of prostate cancer (OLIGOPELVIS GETUG P07).
]. Indeed, salvage RT can be delivered either to cover bilateral pelvic lymph node region (elective nodal radiotherapy [ENRT]) or to treat nodal relapse focally with SBRT. Specifically, ENRT allows for a better nodal coverage and improves PFS, while SBRT enables improvement of local control, deferment of systemic therapies, and thus improvement of QoL. According to limited data available, ENRT seems to reduce the number of local recurrences but at the cost of a potential increase in toxicity [
[31]- De Bleser E.
- Jereczek-Fossa B.A.
- Pasquier D.
- et al.
Metastasis-directed therapy in treating nodal oligorecurrent prostate cancer: a multi-institutional analysis comparing the outcome and toxicity of stereotactic body radiotherapy and elective nodal radiotherapy.
]. Overall, both strategies represent valuable MDT options in terms of efficacy and safety, and therefore the optimal RT regimen in the setting of nodal oligorecurrent PCa patients still remains a matter of debate [
[32]- Achard V.
- Bottero M.
- Rouzaud M.
- et al.
Radiotherapy treatment volumes for oligorecurrent nodal prostate cancer: a systematic review.
]. Expected advances in diagnostic capability of imaging techniques could allow an improved detection of disease recurrences and thus a better selection of patients eligible for either technique [
[29]- Tran S.
- Jorcano S.
- Falco T.
- Lamanna G.
- Miralbell R.
- Zilli T.
Oligorecurrent nodal prostate cancer: long-term results of an elective nodal irradiation approach.
].
Despite slight differences in the calculation of time from first diagnosis to primary treatment, a median time of 3.8 (interquartile range: 2.3–5.4) yr for the treatment of metachronous disease could be calculated for the whole population included in the analysis. Unfortunately, it was not possible to correlate this timing with the progression of disease. Moreover, the definition of the oligometastatic state was not consistent across publications, with the majority of studies (4/6) [
10- Kneebone A.
- Hruby G.
- Ainsworth H.
- et al.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer detected via prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography.
,
11- Siva S.
- Bressel M.
- Murphy D.G.
- et al.
Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) for oligometastatic prostate cancer: a prospective clinical trial.
,
16- Phillips R.
- Shi W.Y.
- Deek M.
- et al.
Outcomes of observation vs stereotactic ablative radiation for oligometastatic prostate cancer: the ORIOLE phase 2 randomized clinical trial.
,
3- Ost P.
- Reynders D.
- Decaestecker K.
- et al.
Surveillance or metastasis-directed therapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer recurrence: a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase II trial.
] considering any patient with fewer than three lesions, staged as N1 and M1a or M1b, as oligometastatic. In the works of Bowden et al [
[13]- Bowden P.
- See A.W.
- Frydenberg M.
- et al.
Fractionated stereotactic body radiotherapy for up to five prostate cancer oligometastases: Interim outcomes of a prospective clinical trial.
] and Siva et al [
[11]- Siva S.
- Bressel M.
- Murphy D.G.
- et al.
Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) for oligometastatic prostate cancer: a prospective clinical trial.
], a minor proportion of the enrolled population was defined as castration resistant (14/199 and 6/33, respectively).
While Muacevic et al [
[17]- Muacevic A.
- Kufeld M.
- Rist C.
- Wowra B.
- Stief C.
- Staehler M.
Safety and feasibility of image-guided robotic radiosurgery for patients with limited bone metastases of prostate cancer.
] considered only patients with oligometastatic bone involvement, the other works included in our analysis enrolled patients with both nodal and bone disease [
13- Bowden P.
- See A.W.
- Frydenberg M.
- et al.
Fractionated stereotactic body radiotherapy for up to five prostate cancer oligometastases: Interim outcomes of a prospective clinical trial.
,
10- Kneebone A.
- Hruby G.
- Ainsworth H.
- et al.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer detected via prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography.
,
16- Phillips R.
- Shi W.Y.
- Deek M.
- et al.
Outcomes of observation vs stereotactic ablative radiation for oligometastatic prostate cancer: the ORIOLE phase 2 randomized clinical trial.
,
11- Siva S.
- Bressel M.
- Murphy D.G.
- et al.
Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) for oligometastatic prostate cancer: a prospective clinical trial.
,
3- Ost P.
- Reynders D.
- Decaestecker K.
- et al.
Surveillance or metastasis-directed therapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer recurrence: a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase II trial.
]. Interestingly, the location of metastases (node only vs bone only) was not correlated with the effect of MDT in three studies [
3- Ost P.
- Reynders D.
- Decaestecker K.
- et al.
Surveillance or metastasis-directed therapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer recurrence: a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase II trial.
,
10- Kneebone A.
- Hruby G.
- Ainsworth H.
- et al.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer detected via prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography.
,
13- Bowden P.
- See A.W.
- Frydenberg M.
- et al.
Fractionated stereotactic body radiotherapy for up to five prostate cancer oligometastases: Interim outcomes of a prospective clinical trial.
]. Nonetheless, Bowden et al [
[13]- Bowden P.
- See A.W.
- Frydenberg M.
- et al.
Fractionated stereotactic body radiotherapy for up to five prostate cancer oligometastases: Interim outcomes of a prospective clinical trial.
] identified a trend toward an increased risk of disease progression, and subsequent treatment escalation, in patients presenting with both node and bony lesions, as compared with those having bone metastases only (HR = 2.12; 95% CI: 1.12–4.02;
p = 0.022). Moreover, Siva et al [
[11]- Siva S.
- Bressel M.
- Murphy D.G.
- et al.
Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) for oligometastatic prostate cancer: a prospective clinical trial.
] described a different incidence of treatment failure according to metastatic location, with patients with bone metastases showing a lower rate of disease progression than those with pelvic nodal disease (12/20 events, 60% vs 8/11 events, 73%). However, the authors could provide only a qualitative assessment of this phenomenon, probably due to the limited sample size of the analyzed population, and caution is advised in the generalization of these results.
We are well aware of the limitations of our analysis. The most significant one derives from the design of available trials and is represented by the absence of a control group comparing SBRT with an active treatment such as ADT. While in most cases the primary endpoint was to defer ADT, we need to consider that hormonal therapy is still the standard of care in this setting of patients and that evidence is needed to support the role of MDT as an at least noninferior alternative. For this reason, our group decided to conduct a randomized phase II trial, named Radioablation With or Without Androgen DeprIvation Therapy in Metachronous Prostate Cancer OligometaStAsis (RADIOSA) [
[33]- Marvaso G.
- Ciardo D.
- Corrao G.
- et al.
Radioablation +/- hormonotherapy for prostate cancer oligorecurrences (RADIOSA trial): potential of imaging and biology (AIRC IG-22159).
] and registered at ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT03940235, which directly compares SBRT alone versus SBRT plus a short ADT course (6 mo). Owing to the importance of the role of systemic therapies in conjunction with MDTs, other similar trials have been registered recently, including the ADOPT trial, which aims at testing the hypothesis that the addition of ADT to MDT prolongs d-PFS compared with MDT alone [
]. A minor limitation is represented by the fact that, in the STOMP trial [
[3]- Ost P.
- Reynders D.
- Decaestecker K.
- et al.
Surveillance or metastasis-directed therapy for oligometastatic prostate cancer recurrence: a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase II trial.
], a minority of patients (6/31) received surgery instead of SBRT to treat metastases.
Therapy for metastatic PCa patients continues to evolve, especially with the new drugs available that offer excellent results in terms of oncological outcomes. However, SBRT is highly cost effective, safe, and with an almost nonexistent toxicity risk that makes it the perfect candidate in this setting of patients. Despite this premise, more solid data and higher level of evidence are needed to affirm its role in the management of these patients.
Author contributions: Matteo Pepa had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Study concept and design: Marvaso, Volpe.
Acquisition of data: Marvaso, Volpe, Pepa, Augugliaro, Corrao, Biffi.
Analysis and interpretation of data: Marvaso, Volpe, Pepa, Augugliaro, Biffi.
Drafting of the manuscript: Marvaso, Volpe, Pepa, Augugliaro, Biffi, Zaffaroni, Bergamaschi, La Fauci.
Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Mistretta, Luzzago, Cattani, Musi, Petralia, Pravettoni, De Cobelli, Orecchia, Jereczek-Fossa.
Statistical analysis: Biffi.
Obtaining funding: Jereczek-Fossa.
Administrative, technical, or material support: Zaffaroni, Bergamaschi, La Fauci.
Supervision: Mistretta, Luzzago, Cattani, Musi, Petralia, Pravettoni, De Cobelli, Orecchia, Jereczek-Fossa.
Other: None.
Financial disclosures: Matteo Pepa certifies that all conflicts of interest, including specific financial interests and relationships and affiliations relevant to the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript (eg, employment/affiliation, grants or funding, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, royalties, or patents filed, received, or pending), are the following: None.
Funding/Support and role of the sponsor: This study was supported by a research grant from the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC) entitled “Radioablation ± hormonotherapy for prostate cancer oligorecurrences (RADIOSA trial): potential of imaging and biology” registered at ClinicalTrials.govNCT03940235, approved by the Ethics Committee of IRCCS Istituto Europeo di Oncologia and Centro Cardiologico Monzino (IEO-997). The institution of authors Giulia Marvaso, Gennaro Musi, Stefania Volpe, Matteo Pepa, Matteo Augugliaro, Giulia Corrao, Mattia Zaffaroni, Luca Bergamaschi, Francesco Maria La Fauci, Federica Cattani, Roberto Orecchia, and Barbara Alicja Jereczek-Fossa (IEO, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan) was also partially supported by the Italian Ministry of Health with Ricerca Corrente and 5 × 1000 funds. Mattia Zaffaroni was supported by a research grant from Accuray Inc., entitled “Data collection and analysis of Tomotherapy and CyberKnife breast clinical studies, breast physics studies and prostate study”. The sponsors did not play any role in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.