Oncologic Impact and Safety of Pre-Operative Radiotherapy in Localized Prostate and Bladder Cancer: A Comprehensive Review from the Cancerology Committee of the Association Française d’Urologie

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Radiotherapy may have an interesting role of reinforcing the loco-regional control of cancer, in addition to surgery, when used as a preoperative treatment. This sequence has demonstrated its efficacy and safety in various malignancies, but no strong data exist in the era of uro-oncology. In this review article, we aim to highlight the potential usefulness of preoperative radiotherapy in prostate and muscle-invasive bladder cancer, aiming to enhance pathological response and local control and to prevent intraoperative tumor seeding. We also emphasize the need for further clinical studies assessing the functional safety of subsequent surgical procedures in a competitive context of new systemic agents that have proven to demonstrate a survival benefit in locally advanced urologic cancers. ABSTRACT: Preoperative radiotherapy (RT) is commonly used for the treatment of various malignancies, including sarcomas, rectal, and gynaecological cancers, but it is preferentially used as a competitive treatment to radical surgery in uro-oncology or as a salvage procedure in cases of local recurrence. Nevertheless, preoperative RT represents an attractive strategy to prevent from intraoperative tumor seeding in the operative field, to sterilize microscopic extension outside the organ, and to enhance the pathological and/or imaging tumor response rate. Several clinical works support this research field in uro-oncology. In this review article, we summarized the oncologic impact and safety of preoperative RT in localized prostate and muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Preliminary studies suggest that both modalities can be complementary as initial primary tumor treatments and that a pre-operative radiotherapy strategy could be beneficial in a well-defined population of patients who are at a very high-risk of local relapse. Future prospective trials are warranted to evaluate the oncologic benefit of such a combination of local treatments in addition to new life-prolonging systemic therapies, such as immunotherapy, and new generation hormone therapies. Moreover, the safety and the feasibility of salvage surgical procedures due to non-response or local recurrence after pelvic RT remain poorly evaluated in that context.