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CompletedNCT01272050Updated Aug 28, 2024

Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients With Relapsed Prostate Cancer After Surgery

A Phase 3 interventional study of radiation therapy in Prostate Cancer, sponsored by Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research. Completed at 28 sites in 3 countries. Open to male participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2024-08-28.

Sponsored by Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research · Phase 3, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 3
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
350
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 75 Years
Sex
Male
01

Study summary

RATIONALE: Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill tumor cells. It is not yet known which radiation therapy regimen is more effective in treating patients with relapsed prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying the side effects of radiation therapy and comparing two radiation therapy regimens in treating patients with relapsed prostate cancer after surgery.

Read the detailed description

OBJECTIVES:

  • To determine the tumor control in patients with biochemically relapsed prostate cancer without macroscopic disease treated with dose-intensive salvage radiotherapy.
  • To determine the toxicity in these patients.
  • To determine the quality of life of these patients.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to Gleason score (≥ 8 vs 7 vs ≤ 6), pathological tumor classification (pT3b vs others), lymphadenectomy performed (yes [pN0] vs no [cN0]), persistent PSA after prostatectomy (detectable [≥ 0.1 ng/mL] vs undetectable [\< 0.1 ng/mL]), PSA at randomization (> 0.5 ng/mL vs ≤ 0.5 ng/mL), participating center, and radiotherapy technique (3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy [3D-CRT] vs intensity-modulated radiation therapy [IMRT]/rotational techniques). Patient are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms.

  • Arm A: Beginning at least 12 weeks after surgery, patients undergo radiotherapy* once a day, 5 days a week, for 6.4 weeks for a total dose of 64 Gy (in 32 fractions of 2 Gy over 6.4 weeks).
  • Arm B: Patients undergo radiotherapy* once a day, 5 days a week, for 7 weeks for a total dose of 70 Gy (in 35 fractions of 2 Gy over 7 weeks).

NOTE: *3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy, rotational techniques such as Tomotherapy®, Rapidarc®, or intensity-modulated arc technique and volumetric-modulated arc therapy are all eligible.

Patients complete quality-of-life questionnaires at baseline and at 3, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months after completing study therapy.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 6 months for 3 years and then every 12 months for up to 10 years.

02

Conditions studied

  • Prostate Cancer

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Keywords

  • adenocarcinoma of the prostate
  • recurrent prostate cancer
  • stage IIA prostate cancer
  • stage IIB prostate cancer
  • stage III prostate cancer
03

In context

Prostatic Neoplasms

7,046 studies on the registry are indexed under Prostatic Neoplasms; 1,580 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 350 is above the median of 60 across 5,348 interventional studies indexed under Prostatic Neoplasms.

Browse Prostatic Neoplasms studies →

Lead sponsor

Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research is the lead sponsor of 106 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
Male
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

  • Diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the prostate

    • Lymph node negative disease

      • Stage pT2a-3b; R0-1; pN0 or cN0
  • Undergone a radical prostatectomy ≥ 12 weeks prior to randomization
  • PSA progression after prostatectomy defined as two consecutive rises with the second rising value > 0.1 ng/mL OR three consecutive rises (the first value must be measured 4 weeks after radical prostatectomy)
  • PSA ≤ 2 ng/mL at randomization

    • No persistent PSA > 0.4 ng/mL, 4-20 weeks after radical prostatectomy
  • No palpable prostatic fossa mass suggestive of recurrence, unless an ultrasound-guided is non-malignant
  • No pre-salvage radiotherapy pelvic lymph node enlargement > 1 cm in short axis diameter of the abdomen and pelvis (cN1) (unless the enlarged lymph node is sampled and negative)
  • No evidence of macroscopic local recurrence or disease on pre-salvage radiotherapy MRI (with IV contrast) or multislice computed tomography (with IV and oral contrast) of the abdomen and pelvis assessed within 16 weeks prior to randomization
  • No presence or history of bone metastases (bone scan must be performed in case of clinical suspicion [e.g., bone pain])
  • Gleason score must be available

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

  • 0-1
  • Fertile patients must use effective during and for 6 months after completion of study therapy
  • Compliant and geographically proximal to allow for proper staging and follow-up
  • No prior invasive , except non-melanomatous skin cancer or other malignancies with a documented disease-free survival of ≥ 5 years
  • No bilateral hip prosthesis
  • No severe or active co-morbidity likely to impact on the advisability of dose-intensive salvage radiotherapy, including any of the following:

    • History of inflammatory bowel disease
    • Acute bacterial or fungal infection requiring intravenous antibiotics at the time of randomization
    • Unstable angina and/or congestive heart failure requiring hospitalization within the past 6 months
    • Transmural myocardial infarction within the past 6 months
    • exacerbation or other respiratory illness requiring hospitalization or precluding study therapy at the time of randomization
  • No psychiatric disorder precluding understanding of information on trial-related topics, giving , or filling out quality-of-life questionnaires

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

  • See Disease Characteristics
  • No prior pelvic radiotherapy
  • No hormonal treatment or bilateral orchiectomy prior to or following prostatectomy
  • At least 4 weeks since prior and no concurrent use of products known to affect PSA levels (e.g., PC Calm, PC Plus, PC SPES, finasteride, or fluconazole)
  • At least 30 days since prior treatment in another clinical trial
  • No other concurrent anticancer treatments, including luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) analogues, antiandrogens, orchiectomy, or chemotherapy
  • No other concurrent or experimental treatments or drugs

Inclusion criteria

INCLUSION CRITERIA

  • Patient must give written informed consent before randomization.
  • Lymph node negative adenocarcinoma of the prostate treated with radical prostatectomy at least 12 weeks before randomization. Tumor stage pT2a-3b, R0-1, pN0 or cN0 according to the UICC TNM 2009 (see Appendix 1), Gleason score available.
  • PSA progression after prostatectomy defined as two consecutive rises with the final PSA > 0.1 ng/mL or three consecutive rises. The first value must be measured earliest 4 weeks after radical prostatectomy.
  • PSA at randomization ≤ 2 ng/mL.
  • WHO performance status 0-1 at randomization.
  • Age at randomization between 18 and 75 years.
  • Baseline QoL questionnaire (QLQ) has been completed.
  • Patient agrees not to father a child during salvage RT and during 6 months thereafter.
  • Patient compliance and geographic proximity allow proper staging and follow-up.
  • The responsible pathologist has agreed to provide sample material for central pathological review (see Section 16) and tissue banking (only if patient gave informed consent) within the specified timelines.

Exclusion criteria

EXCLUSION CRITERIA

  • Persistent PSA 4-20 weeks after radical prostatectomy > 0.4 ng/mL
  • Palpable prostatic fossa mass suggestive of recurrence, unless an ultrasound guided is non-malignant.
  • Pre-salvage RT pelvic lymph node enlargement > 1 cm in short axis diameter of the abdomen and pelvis (cN1), unless the enlarged lymph node is sampled and negative, and/or evidence of macroscopic local recurrence or disease on pre-salvage RT MRI (magnetic resonance imaging; with i.v. contrast) or multislice computed tomography (CT; with i.v. and oral contrast) of the abdomen and pelvis assessed within 16 weeks prior to randomization.
  • Presence or history of bone metastases. Bone scan must be performed in case of clinical suspicion (e.g. bone pain).
  • Prior invasive , except non-melanomatous skin cancer or other malignancies with a documented disease-free survival for a minimum of 5 years.
  • Hormonal treatment or bilateral orchiectomy prior to or following prostatectomy.
  • Bilateral hip prosthesis.
  • Prior pelvic radiotherapy.
  • The use of products known to affect PSA levels within 4 weeks prior to start of trial treatment (e.g. PC Calm, PC Plus, PC SPES, finasteride, fluconazole).
  • Severe or active co-morbidity likely to impact on the advisability of dose intensified salvage RT.
  • Psychiatric disorder precluding understanding of information on trial related topics, giving or filling out QoL questionnaires.
  • Concurrent treatment with other experimental drugs or other anti-cancer therapy, treatment in a clinical trial within 30 days prior to trial entry.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(8)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

Metastases

Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.

ECOG performance status

A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.

0
Fully active, no restrictions.
1
Limited in strenuous activity, but walking and able to do light work, such as housework or office work.
2
Walking and able to look after yourself, but unable to work; up and about more than half of waking hours.
3
Able to look after yourself only in part; in bed or a chair more than half of waking hours.
4
Unable to look after yourself at all; in bed or a chair all day.

Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Cancer (malignancy)

Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.

Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.

COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Factorial assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
350 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Arm A: 64 Gy - Radiation Therapy

    Arm A: 64 Gy (32 x 2 Gy) without hormonal treatment

    Radiation: radiation therapy

  • Active comparator
    Arm B: 70 Gy - Radiation Therapy

    Arm B: 70 Gy (35 x 2 Gy) without hormonal treatment

    Radiation: radiation therapy

Interventions

  • Radiationradiation therapy

    RT in the standard arm A will be administered to a total dose of 64 Gy in 32 fractions of 2 Gy over 6.4 weeks. RT in the experimental arm B will be administered to a total dose of 70 Gy in 35 fractions of 2 Gy over 7 weeks. Megavoltage equipments with nominal photon energies ≥ 6 MV are required. Rotational techniques such as Tomotherapy®, Rapidarc®, intensity-modulated arc technique (IMAT) and volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) will also be eligible. The patient will be treated in an isocentric setting and all fields will be applied for 5 days per week for the total RT duration.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Freedom from biochemical progression

    Time frame: from the day of trial randomization to the day of either first recorded biochemical progression, clinical progression or death due to clinical progression up to 10 years.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Clinical progression-free survival

    Time frame: from the day of randomization to the day of the first record of either local or regional recurrence, distant recurrence, start of hormonal treatment, or death due to any cause up to 10 years.

  2. Time to hormonal treatment

    Time frame: time from trial randomization to start of hormonal treatment up to 10 years.

  3. Prostate cancer-specific survival

    Time frame: time from trial randomization to the date of death due to prostate cancer up to 10 years.

  4. Overall survival

    Time frame: time from trial randomization to the date of death from any cause up to 10 years.

  5. Acute and late gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicity according to CTCAE v 4.0

    Time frame: occurring during treatment and up to 3 months after completion of treatment. Late toxicity is defined as occurring later than 3 months after end of treatment.

07

Study locations

28 sites
  • Ziekenhuis Netwerk Antwerpen Middelheim
    Antwerpen, 2020, Belgium
  • Ghent University Hospital
    Ghent, 9000, Belgium
  • St. Lukas Hospital Ghent
    Ghent, 9000, Belgium
  • Universitaetsklinikum Aachen, Klinik für Strahlentherapie
    Aachen, 52074, Germany
  • Charite University Hospital - Campus Virchow Klinikum
    Berlin, 13353, Germany
  • University Hospital and Medical Faculty Technical University of Dresden
    Dresden, D-01307, Germany
  • Universitaetsklinikum Essen, Klinik für Strahlentherapie
    Essen, 45147, Germany
  • Universitätsklinikum Saarland
    Homburg, 66421, Germany
  • Klinikum der LMU Muenchen
    Munich, D-81377, Germany
  • Technische Universitaet Muenchen
    Munich, D-81675, Germany
  • Klinikum der Universitaet Regensburg
    Regensburg, 93051, Germany
  • Klinik und Poliklinik fuer Strahlentherapie - Universitaetsklinikum Rostock
    Rostock, 18059, Germany
  • Universitaet Tuebingen
    Tuebingen, 72076, Germany
  • Klinik fuer Strahlentherapie Universitaet Wuerzburg
    Wuerzburg, 97080, Germany
  • Kantonsspital Aarau
    Aarau, 5001, Switzerland
  • Universitaetsspital-Basel
    Basel, CH-4031, Switzerland
  • Istituto Oncologico della Svizzera Italiana - Ospedale Regionale Bellinzona e Valli
    Bellinzona, 6500, Switzerland
  • Inselspital Bern
    Bern, 3010, Switzerland
  • Radio-Onkologiezentrum Biel-Seeland-Berner Jura AG
    Biel, 2503, Switzerland
  • Kantonsspital Graubuenden
    Chur, 7000, Switzerland
  • Kantonsspital Luzern
    Luzern, 6000, Switzerland
  • Kantonsspital Muensterlingen
    Münsterlingen, 8596, Switzerland
  • Hopital de Sion
    Sion, 1951, Switzerland
  • Kantonsspital - St. Gallen
    St. Gallen, 9007, Switzerland
  • Radio-Onkologie Berner Oberland AG
    Thun, 3600, Switzerland
  • Klinik Hirslanden
    Zurich, 8032, Switzerland
  • City Hospital Triemli
    Zurich, 8063, Switzerland
  • UniversitaetsSpital Zuerich
    Zurich, 8091, Switzerland
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Beck M, Sassowsky M, Schar S, Mathier E, Halter M, Zwahlen DR, Holscher T, Arnold W, Polat B, Hildebrandt G, Muller AC, Putora PM, Papachristofilou A, Hayoz S, Schar C, Li Q, Sumila M, Zaugg K, Guckenberger M, Ost P, Bosetti DG, Reuter C, Gomez S, Khanfir K, Aebersold DM, Ghadjar P, Pra AD. Adherence to Contouring and Treatment Planning Requirements Within a Multicentric Trial: Results of the Quality Assurance of the SAKK 09/10 trial. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2022 May 1;113(1):80-91. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2021.12.174. Epub 2022 Jan 3. PubMed 34990777 ↗
  • Ghadjar P, Hayoz S, Bernhard J, Zwahlen DR, Holscher T, Gut P, Polat B, Hildebrandt G, Muller AC, Plasswilm L, Papachristofilou A, Schar C, Sumila M, Zaugg K, Guckenberger M, Ost P, Reuter C, Bosetti DG, Khanfir K, Gomez S, Wust P, Thalmann GN, Aebersold DM; Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK). Dose-intensified Versus Conventional-dose Salvage Radiotherapy for Biochemically Recurrent Prostate Cancer After Prostatectomy: The SAKK 09/10 Randomized Phase 3 Trial. Eur Urol. 2021 Sep;80(3):306-315. doi: 10.1016/j.eururo.2021.05.033. Epub 2021 Jun 14. PubMed 34140144 ↗
  • Ghadjar P, Hayoz S, Bernhard J, Zwahlen DR, Holscher T, Gut P, Guckenberger M, Hildebrandt G, Muller AC, Plasswilm L, Papachristofilou A, Stalder L, Biaggi-Rudolf C, Sumila M, Kranzbuhler H, Najafi Y, Ost P, Azinwi NC, Reuter C, Bodis S, Kaouthar K, Wust P, Thalmann GN, Aebersold DM. Acute Toxicity and Quality of Life After Dose-Intensified Salvage Radiation Therapy for Biochemically Recurrent Prostate Cancer After Prostatectomy: First Results of the Randomized Trial SAKK 09/10. J Clin Oncol. 2015 Dec 10;33(35):4158-66. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2015.63.3529. Epub 2015 Nov 2. PubMed 26527774 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 28, 2024, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT01272050
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jan 7, 2011
Start date
Jan 6, 2011
Primary completion
Jul 3, 2020
Completion
May 31, 2024
Last update
Aug 28, 2024

Study contacts

Pirus Ghadjar, MD
study chair · Charite University, Berlin, Germany
Daniel M. Aebersold, Prof.
study chair · Bern University Hospital
George N. Thalmann, Prof.
study chair · Bern University Hospital
Daniel Zwahlen, PD Dr.
study chair · Kantonsspital Graubünden

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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