A therapy that involves depriving the prostate gland the male hormone androgen is not associated with improved survival for elderly men with localized prostate cancer, compared to conservative management of the disease, according to a study in the July 9 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Prostate cancer is the most common nonskin cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death among men. "For the majority of men with incident prostate cancer (approximately 85 percent), disease is diagnosed at localized (T1-T2) stages, and standard treatment options include surgery, radiation, or conservative management (i.e., deferral of treatment until necessitated by disease signs or symptoms). Although not standard or sanctioned by major groups or guidelines, an increasing number of clinicians and patients have turned to primary androgen deprivation therapy (PADT) as an alternative to surgery, radiation, or conservative management, especially among older men," the authors write. In a 1999-2001 survey, PADT had become the second most common treatment approach, after surgery, for localized prostate cancer, despite a lack of data regarding PADT's efficacy.