Hormone Therapy Improves Prostate Cancer Survival

FRIDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- In men with locally advanced prostate cancer, six months of hormone therapy combined with radiation significantly reduces prostate-cancer-specific and all-cause mortality compared with radiotherapy alone, according to a study published online March 25 in The Lancet Oncology.

James W. Denham, M.D., of the University of Newcastle in Australia, and colleagues present the 10-year results of the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group 96.01 trial, which compared radiotherapy alone with three or six months of neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (NADT), given before and during radiation. After a median follow-up of 10.6 years, prostate-cancer-specific mortality and all-cause mortality were evaluated in a total of 802 men.

The researchers found that, in the long term, six months of NADT significantly reduced distant tumor progression (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.49), mortality due to prostate cancer (aHR, 0.49), and all-cause mortality (aHR, 0.63) compared to radiotherapy alone. Three months of NADT had no effect on these outcomes. Decreased incidence of PSA progression and local progression, and improved event-free survival were seen after three months of NADT. Also, there was more of an effect after six months of NADT compared to radiotherapy alone. There was no increase in mortality related to the hormone therapy within the first five years after randomization.

"We believe that six months neoadjuvant androgen-deprivation therapy in combination with contemporary radiation techniques and doses will remain an effective treatment option in the next decade, particularly in men without nodal metastases or pre-existing metabolic comorbidities that could be exacerbated by prolonged androgen deprivation," the authors write.

The study was funded in part by AstraZeneca and Schering-Plough.

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Renal&Urology News