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. 2021 Mar 3;1(1):1-5.
doi: 10.21873/cdp.10000. eCollection 2021 Mar-Apr.

Switching Patients With Prostate Cancer from GnRH Antagonist to Long-acting LHRH Agonist for Androgen Deprivation: Reducing Hospital Visits During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Motohiro Fujiwara  1 , Takeshi Yuasa  1 , Yoshinobu Komai  1 , Ryo Fujiwara  1 , Tomohiko Oguchi  1 , Noboru Numao  1 , Shinya Yamamoto  1 , Junji Yonese  1
Affiliations

Switching Patients With Prostate Cancer from GnRH Antagonist to Long-acting LHRH Agonist for Androgen Deprivation: Reducing Hospital Visits During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Motohiro Fujiwara et al. Cancer Diagn Progn. .

Abstract

Aim: To reduce the frequency of the need for hospital visits for patients with prostate cancer (PCa) taking androgen-deprivation therapy during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, we switched them from gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist to a long-acting luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) agonist. Here, we confirmed the efficacy and safety profile of this switching.

Patients and methods: We analyzed the medical records of 32 patients with PCa who received ADT and switched from GnRH antagonist to a long-acting LH-RH agonist during the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluating hematological and serological variables, including serum testosterone and prostate-specific antigen.

Results: Before and after the switching from GnRH antagonist to LH-RH agonist, the median serum testosterone levels were 0.22 and 0.18 ng/ml, respectively, and the median serum prostate-specific antigen levels were 0.18 and 0.11 ng/ml, respectively. No changes in the rates of flare-ups of conditions or adverse events were observed.

Conclusion: Switching from GnRH antagonist to a long-acting LH-RH agonist appears to be a reasonable option that does not diminish efficacy or exacerbate adverse events.

Keywords: COVID-19; Degarelix; androgen deprivation therapy; coronavirus; leuprorelin acetate; prostate cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

T. Yuasa received remuneration for a lecture from Astellas (Tokyo, Japan). The other Authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest that might be relevant to the contents of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Comparison of serum levels of testosterone (A) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) (B) before and after switching from 80 mg degarelix to long-acting leuprorelin. Left panels: The serum levels of testosterone and PSA of all 32 patients before and after the switch. Right panels: Box plots of serum of testosterone and PSA levels before and after the switch.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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