Hypofractionated Image-Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) With Organ Motion Mitigation and Urethral Sparing for Prostate Cancer

May 7, 2026 updated by: Carlo Greco, MD, Fundacao Champalimaud

The present study evaluates the safety, feasibility, quality-of-life effects, PSA kinetics, and clinical outcomes of definitive dose-escalated external beam radiotherapy for localized adenocarcinoma of the prostate.

Eligible patients will have biopsy-proven localized prostate adenocarcinoma without radiographic evidence of regional or distant metastases and without MRI evidence of radiographic T3/T4 disease. Patients may have low-risk, intermediate-risk, or selected high-risk disease. Previous or concomitant hormonal therapy is allowed but is not required, provided prior hormonal therapy was not given for more than 6 months before protocol therapy.

Patients enrolled in the study will receive image-guided volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy (IGRT-VMAT) to 45 Gy in five fractions of 9 Gy each, delivered on five consecutive treatment days unless a clinically or operationally justified interruption is required. Treatment will use organ-motion mitigation, urethral localization, online target tracking, urethral sparing, and treatment-planning quality assurance procedures designed to support normal tissue sparing and accurate radiation delivery. A rectal balloon with air filling will be used for prostate immobilization and anatomical reproducibility, and a urethral catheter loaded with beacon transponders will be used for set-up reproducibility and online tracking.

Patients will be followed at approximately 1 month after treatment, then at approximately 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, and every 6 months thereafter through 60 months. Patients will be followed for a minimum of 5 years. Follow-up assessments will include physician-graded gastrointestinal and genitourinary toxicity using NCI CTCAE v4.0, patient-reported urinary, bowel, and sexual quality-of-life outcomes using validated instruments including EPIC, IPSS, and IIEF questionnaires, and serum PSA testing. Biochemical relapse-free survival will be assessed using the Phoenix definition, and recurrence patterns will be summarized from clinically indicated imaging.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This is a prospective, single-arm phase II study of definitive ultra-hypofractionated image-guided radiotherapy for localized prostate adenocarcinoma. The study is designed to evaluate the acute and late safety profile, feasibility, patient-reported quality-of-life outcomes, PSA kinetics, biochemical relapse-free survival, and clinical outcomes of dose-escalated IGRT-VMAT using organ-motion mitigation and urethral sparing.

Patients will receive 45 Gy in 5 fractions of 9 Gy each. Treatment planning will use CT/MRI-based target and organ-at-risk delineation. The protocol incorporates a rectal balloon for prostate stabilization and anatomical reproducibility, a urethral catheter loaded with beacon transponders for urethral localization and online motion tracking, and inverse dose-painting to reduce urethral dose when compatible with target coverage and disease anatomy. Erectile-related structures, including the neurovascular bundles, urogenital diaphragm, and penile bulb, may be contoured and recorded for quality-of-life and dosimetric analyses.

The primary safety assessments are treatment-related Grade 3 or higher gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicity occurring from the first protocol fraction through 90 days after treatment completion, and treatment-related late Grade 2 or higher gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicity occurring more than 90 days through 5 years after completion of radiotherapy. Late Grade 3 or higher gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicity will be summarized separately. Clinically meaningful deterioration from baseline in urinary, bowel, and sexual patient-reported outcomes will be evaluated as a key safety and quality-of-life assessment.

Secondary assessments include PSA kinetics, biochemical relapse-free survival using the Phoenix definition, quality-of-life changes measured by EPIC, IPSS, and IIEF instruments, erectile and sexual function preservation, associations between clinical or dosimetric factors and outcomes, hormonal therapy exposure, and patterns of recurrence on clinically indicated imaging.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

444

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Portugal
      • Lisbon, Portugal, 1400-038
        • Champalimaud Foundation

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

40 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Participants must meet all of the following criteria:

  • Signed study-specific informed consent.
  • Histologic confirmation of adenocarcinoma of the prostate by biopsy.
  • Localized low-risk, intermediate-risk, or selected high-risk adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Selected high-risk disease is limited to patients with no MRI evidence of radiographic T3/T4 disease and no radiographic regional or distant metastases.
  • No direct evidence of regional or distant metastases after appropriate staging studies.
  • Previous or concomitant hormonal therapy is allowed but not required. - Previous hormonal therapy must not have been given for more than 6 months before protocol therapy.
  • Age ≥40 years.
  • Performance status 0-2.
  • IPSS score ≤20; alpha blockers are allowed.
  • CT- or ultrasound-based prostate volume estimate ≤150 grams.

Participants meeting any of the following criteria are ineligible:

  • Metastatic prostate cancer on imaging studies.
  • MRI evidence of radiographic T3 or T4 disease.
  • Previous pelvic radiotherapy.
  • Previous surgery for prostate cancer.
  • Previous hormonal therapy given for more than 6 months before protocol therapy.
  • History of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis.
  • Significant obstructive urinary symptoms, defined as IPSS >20.
  • Significant psychiatric illness that would interfere with protocol participation.
  • Severe active comorbidity that, in the investigator's judgment, would preclude safe protocol therapy or required follow-up.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental: Ultra-hypofractionated IGRT-VMAT 45 Gy in 5 fractions of 9 Gy
Participants will receive definitive dose-escalated image-guided volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy for localized prostate adenocarcinoma. Radiotherapy will be delivered to 45 Gy in 5 fractions of 9 Gy each over 5 consecutive days, using organ-motion mitigation, urethral localization, online target tracking, urethral sparing, rectal balloon stabilization, and protocol-specified treatment planning and quality assurance procedures.
Device: Rectal balloon with air filling
A rectal balloon with air filling will be used for prostate target immobilization and anatomical reproducibility.
Device: Urethral catheter loaded with beacon transponders
A urethral catheter loaded with beacon transponders will be used to ensure set-up reproducibility and online target tracking.
Radiation: Ultra-hypofractionated IGRT-VMAT with organ-motion mitigation and urethral sparing
Image-guided volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy delivered to 45 Gy in 5 fractions of 9 Gy each. Treatment uses CT/MRI-based planning, a rectal balloon for target immobilization and anatomical reproducibility, a urethral catheter loaded with beacon transponders for localization and online tracking, and urethral dose sparing using inverse dose-painting when compatible with target coverage and disease anatomy.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Acute treatment-related Grade ≥3 gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicity
Time Frame: From first protocol fraction through 90 days after completion of radiotherapy
Incidence of treatment-related Grade 3 or higher gastrointestinal or genitourinary adverse events, graded using NCI CTCAE version 4.0.
From first protocol fraction through 90 days after completion of radiotherapy
Late treatment-related Grade ≥2 gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicity
Time Frame: More than 90 days through 60 months after completion of radiotherapy
Incidence of treatment-related late Grade 2 or higher gastrointestinal or genitourinary adverse events, graded using NCI CTCAE version 4.0. Late Grade 3 or higher toxicity will be summarized separately.
More than 90 days through 60 months after completion of radiotherapy

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from baseline in urinary quality of life
Time Frame: Baseline; approximately 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months; then every 6 months through 60 months
Change in urinary symptoms and urinary quality-of-life domains using validated instruments including EPIC-26 and IPSS. Change from baseline in EPIC-26 and IPSS, . The EPIC-26 (Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite score) questionnaire ranges between 0 and 100, with higher values indicating better quality of life. The IPSS (International Prostatic Symptoms Score) questionnaire ranges between 0 and 35 with higher values indicating worse urinary symptoms.
Baseline; approximately 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months; then every 6 months through 60 months
Change from baseline in bowel quality of life
Time Frame: Baseline; approximately 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months; then every 6 months through 60 months
Change in bowel/rectal patient-reported outcomes using EPIC bowel-domain assessments. The EPIC-26 (Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite score) questionnaire ranges between 0 and 100, with higher values indicating better quality of life.
Baseline; approximately 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months; then every 6 months through 60 months
Change from baseline in sexual function
Time Frame: Baseline; approximately 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months; then every 6 months through 60 months
Change in sexual function and sexual quality of life using EPIC-26 sexual-domain and IIEF instruments. The EPIC-26 (Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite score) questionnaire ranges between 0 and 100, with higher values indicating better quality of life. The IIEF (International Index of Erectile Function) questionnaire ranges between 0 and 30 with higher scores indicating better sexual function.
Baseline; approximately 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months; then every 6 months through 60 months
PSA kinetics after radiotherapy
Time Frame: Approximately 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months; then every 6 months through 60 months
Longitudinal serum PSA values after treatment, including PSA decline patterns and association with clinical outcomes.
Approximately 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months; then every 6 months through 60 months
Biochemical relapse-free survival
Time Frame: Through 60 months or longer after completion of radiotherapy
Time to biochemical relapse, assessed using the Phoenix definition.
Through 60 months or longer after completion of radiotherapy
Patterns of recurrence
Time Frame: Through 60 months or longer after completion
Local, nodal, or distant recurrence patterns summarized from clinically indicated imaging at or after biochemical relapse.
Through 60 months or longer after completion
Correlation of clinical and dosimetric variables with toxicity and quality-of-life outcomes (EPIC-26)
Time Frame: Through 60 months after completion of radiotherapy
Analysis of correlations between treatment-planning dose metrics, clinical factors, toxicity, and EPIC-26 patient-reported outcomes. EPIC-26 (Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite score) questionnaire ranges between 0 and 100, with higher values indicating better quality of life.
Through 60 months after completion of radiotherapy

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Fundacao Champalimaud

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Carlo Greco, MD, Fundacao Champalimaud

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 30, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

December 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 26, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 2, 2016

First Posted (Estimated)

May 4, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 12, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 7, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • HYPO

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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