Salvage radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy 729 Table 1. Clinical and pathological characteristics of 41 patients undergoing salvage radiotherapy 64 (50–72) 41 3 6 9 16 6 2 7 22 12 19 22 6 35 21 20 17 24 16 25 23 18 4.80 (0.94–21.3) 8.55 (3.9–40) 0.43 (0.02–4.26) 66 (60–70) 27.20 (16.00–65.52) 370 (81–2363) 438 (84–2342) 27 (0–173) 213 (31–1095) 72.8 (39.2–121.6) 50.6 (2.4–107.8) Total number of patients Age at surgery, mean (range) (years) Pathologic stage Gleason scoreb Status of surgical margins Seminal vesicle invasion Extracapsular invasion Lymphatic vessel invasion Vascular invasion Perineural invasion pT2a pT2b pT2c pT3a pT3b Positive lymph nodesa 6 7 8–10 Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Negative PSAc doubling time, median (range) (months) Preprostatectomy PSA level, median (range) (ng/ml) Preradiotherapy PSA level, median (range) (ng/ml) Radiation dose, median (range) (Gy) Size of radiation field at gantry 0°, median (range) (cm2) Time from RPd to biochemical failure after RP, median (range) (days) Time from RP to RTe, median (range) (days) Time from biochemical failure to RT, median (range) (days) Time from RT to biochemical failure after RT, median (range) (days) Follow-up after RP, median (range) (months) Follow-up after RT, median (range) (months) aPelvic lymph node dissection was performed in 36 patients bno remnant malignant cells were found at the time of surgery in one patient who had received neoadjuvant hormonal therapy cPSA = prostate-specific antigen dRP = radical prostatectomy eRT = radiotherapy. longitudinal, 4.0 cm) to 65.52 cm2 (transverse, 8.4 cm; lon- gitudinal, 7.8 cm), and the median size was 26.4 cm2 (transverse, 6.0 cm; longitudinal, 4.4 cm). Two patients received hormonal therapy prior to and during salvage RT. The follow-up evaluations after salvage RT were per- formed by urologists and/or radiologists and consisted of a medical history, physical examination and PSA level measurement. When patients were suspected of having metastasis, they received a bone scintigraphy and/or CT examination. The judgement of biochemical failure was made based on the criteria of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) Consensus Panel 1999 [6]. After RT, 76% of the patients achieved a PSA nadir of <0.2 ng/ml and 51% of the patients achieved a nadir of <0.05 ng/ml. The postradiotherapy PSA nadir ranged from 0.007 to 2.91 ng/ml (median, 0.05 ng/ml).