Androgen Deprivation Therapy and Dose-Escalated Radiotherapy for Intermediate- and High-Risk Prostate Cancer: Sign of Changing Times?

To the Editor Using the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) 2004 through 2012, Falchook and colleagues¹ showed that while the adoption of dose-escalated radiation therapy (RT) for National Comprehensive Cancer Network intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer increased to 90% of all external-beam RT recipients, the use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) was more heterogeneous, and influenced by geographic location of treating facility rather than patient comorbidity concerns. We noted that Charlson-Deyo comorbidity scores in the NCDB are categorized as 0, 1, and greater than 1 (not 2).² More importantly, while we appreciate the findings noted by the authors, we wish to highlight some relevant areas of concern.