AccScience Publishing / ARNM / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ARNM026300034
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Sexual quality of life after stereotactic body radiotherapy and androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer: A single-institution observational study

Trinanjan Basu1* ,  Jay Prakash Sahu1 ,  Shounak J. Kamat1 ,  Rohith R. Menon1 ,  Ghazala K. Roshan1 ,  Komal Parwani1 ,  Parv Modi1
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1 HealthCare Global Cancer Center, Mumbai, Maharashtra , India
ARNM, 026300034 https://doi.org/10.36922/ARNM026300034
Received: 22 July 2026 | Revised: 24 September 2026 | Accepted: 9 October 2026 | Published online: 22 October 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Sexual quality of life (QOL) of prostate cancer (PCa) patients is severely impacted following curative treatment, yet remains infrequently discussed. The objective was to report the sexual QOL outcome of PCa patients treated by stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). A total of 53 PCa patients across National Comprehensive Cancer Network risk categories with at least six months of follow-up were included in this study. Sexual symptom scores were assessed before SBRT and at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months after treatment using the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite for Clinical Practice questionnaire. The mean dose to the penile bulb (Dmean) and dose received by the bilateral neurovascular bundle (NVB) were documented. The mean sexual symptoms score was 5.06 pre-SBRT, increasing to 8.2 at 18 months post-SBRT and subsequently decreasing to 7.4 and 6.25 at 24 and 36 months post-SBRT, respectively, suggesting a potential recovery of sexual QOL beyond 2 years. The median Dmean to the penile bulb was 20.6 Gy, and median V34.4, V32, and V28 of the NVB were 88.4%, 96.7%, and 99.9%, respectively. SBRT combined with ADT was associated with a low observed frequency of biochemical failure and a decline in sexual QOL in this cohort. Larger prospective studies incorporating NVB-sparing strategies are needed to clarify the determinants of post-treatment sexual QOL.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
Prostate cancer
Stereotactic body radiotherapy
Sexual quality of life
Neurovascular bundles
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Advances in Radiotherapy & Nuclear Medicine, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4392 Print ISSN: 3060-8554, Published by AccScience Publishing
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