Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Nov 1;63(3):781-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2005.02.034.

Long-term androgen deprivation therapy improves survival in prostate cancer patients presenting with prostate-specific antigen levels > 20 ng/mL

Eric Berthelet  1 , Tom Pickles, Kenny Won Jae Lee, Mitchell Liu, Pauline T Truong; Prostate Cancer Outcomes Initiative
Affiliations

Long-term androgen deprivation therapy improves survival in prostate cancer patients presenting with prostate-specific antigen levels > 20 ng/mL

Eric Berthelet et al. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. .

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the benefit of androgen deprivation (AD) and its optimal duration in patients with prostate cancer treated with external beam radiotherapy, who present with prostate-specific antigen levels > 20 ng/mL.

Methods and materials: A total of 307 patients treated with external beam radiotherapy, AD, and presenting with a PSA level > 20 ng/mL were identified from the Prostate Cancer Outcomes Initiative database of the British Columbia Cancer Agency. Androgen deprivation was defined as short term (ST-AD, < 12 months) or long term (LT-AD, > or = 12 months). The endpoints analyzed were biochemical control (no evidence of disease) (bNED), overall survival, and cause-specific survival. Statistical analysis was conducted with Kaplan-Meier estimates, log-rank tests, and multivariate analyses with logistic and Cox regression models.

Results: There were 151 patients in the ST-AD group and 156 in the LT-AD group. The distributions of Gleason score and stage were comparable in the two cohorts. Median follow-up times were 48 months for patients treated with ST-AD and 45 months for patients treated with LT-AD. The median durations of AD were 6 and 25.6 months for the ST-AD and LT-AD groups, respectively. The bNED rate was 37% for the ST-AD group and 62.5% for the LT-AD group (p < 0.0001). The 5-year overall survival rate was 75% in the ST-AD group vs. 87.5% for the LT-AD group (p = 0.0091). The 5-year cause-specific survival rate was 82% for the ST-AD group vs. 94% for the LT-AD group (p = 0.0072).

Conclusions: Several randomized trials have demonstrated the benefit of LT-AD in high-risk patients with prostate cancer. In some reports, the survival advantage seems to be restricted to patients with high Gleason score. The present analysis supports the hypothesis that LT-AD improves bNED and survival rates in patients presenting with a PSA level > 20, irrespective of Gleason score or T stage.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources