• Center on Health Equity and Access
  • Clinical
  • Health Care Cost
  • Health Care Delivery
  • Insurance
  • Policy
  • Technology
  • Value-Based Care

Alarming Results: Androgen-Deprivation in Early-Stage Prostate Cancer Patients May Not Influence Long-Term Survival

Article

The long-term study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, was conducted in more than 65,000 men over the age of 66 years with early-stage prostate cancer.

For decades, millions of men with early prostate cancer have been placed on drug therapy to suppress their production of testosterone, despite such significant side effects as impotence, diabetes and bone loss. Now a large new analysis has concluded that so-called androgen deprivation therapy does not extend the lives of these patients.

“There are so many side effects associated with this therapy, and really little evidence to support its use,” said Dr. Grace L. Lu-Yao, a researcher at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the lead author of the report, published on Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. “I would say that for the majority of patients with localized prostate cancer, this is not a good option.”

Dr. Lu-Yao and her colleagues followed tens of thousands of men with early prostate cancer for as long as 15 years and found that those who received androgen deprivation therapy lived no longer on average than those who did not. The study joins a growing body of evidence indicating that for many men with early prostate cancer, avoiding testosterone-suppressing drugs altogether may be better than grappling with their potentially devastating toll.

Read the original news here: http://nyti.ms/U7OoM9

Source: The New York Times

Related Videos
Will Shapiro
Mila Felder, MD, FACEP
Kiana Mehring, MBA, director of strategic partnerships, managed care at Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute (FCS)
Miriam J. Atkins, MD, FACP, president of the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) and physician and partner of AO Multispecialty Clinic in Augusta, Georgia.
Dr Lucy Langer
Edward Arrowsmith, MD, MPH
Dr Kathi Mooney
Tiago Biachi de Castria, MD, PhD, Moffitt Cancer Center
Related Content
© 2024 MJH Life Sciences
AJMC®
All rights reserved.