Ten-year study shows patients fare better with continuous androgen deprivation therapy
A recently published study shows that when treating prostate cancer, intermittent androgen deprivation therapy is not as beneficial as continuous androgen deprivation.
For the study, 1535 men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer were given an initial course of androgen deprivation therapy. Those patients with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level ≤4 ng/mL were randomly assigned to either continue hormone therapy or to discontinue therapy. Over the course of the study, monthly PSA tests and a doctor’s evaluations every 3 months allowed researchers to monitor the patients. In the intermittent arm, therapy resumed when PSA levels elevated to 20 ng/mL, and the on-off cycle continued based on PSA levels.
Between the 2 groups, study results showed a 10% relative increase in the risk of death with intermittent therapy. From the time of randomization, average survival for the intermittent group was 5.1 years compared with 5.8 years for the continuous group.
Quality of life between the study groups was also examined. Compared with the continuous group, the intermittent therapy group showed significant improvement in impotence and emotional function within the first 3 months of therapy; however, these differences evened out over time.
The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Source: University of Michigan Health System.