Hormone Deprivation Helps Local Prostate Cancer

Oct. 5, 2005 -- The same therapy typically given to men to treat prostate cancer that has spread may also benefit men with localized prostate cancer.

A new study shows that adding three to six months of androgen deprivation therapy in addition to standard radiation therapy can significantly reduce the risk of cancer recurrence in men whose prostate cancer has not spread to other organs.

Androgen deprivation therapy lowers levels of the male hormone testosterone, which can stimulate prostate cancer cells to grow.

The results showed that men treated with three months of androgen deprivation therapy had a 35% lower risk of prostate cancer recurrence, and men treated with six months of this therapy had a 44% reduced risk of cancer relapse.

Researchers say more follow-up study is needed, but the findings suggest that adding androgen deprivation therapy given before and during radiation therapy may help men treated for localize prostate cancer survive disease-free longer.

New Option in Prostate Cancer Treatment

In the study, researchers compared the effects of three and six months of androgen deprivation therapy in addition to radiation therapy vs. radiation therapy alone in about 800 men in Australia and New Zealand with locally advanced prostate cancer.

After nearly six years of follow up, researchers found that men treated with androgen deprivation therapy in addition to radiation treatment had a much lower risk of prostate cancer spread and recurrence.

Researchers say three months of androgen deprivation therapy reduced the risk of cancer returning to the prostate itself. Six months of hormone therapy reduced this risk even more, but more importantly it also reduced the risk of prostate cancer spreading to other parts of the body.

They say more study is needed to determine whether extending the period of androgen deprivation therapy would provide any additional benefits.

The results of the study appear in The Lancet Oncology.