Androgen therapy may not be needed for intermediate prostate cancer
i did a check of research papers on pubmed and quickly found several studies with large numbers of patients followed and saw two startling conclusions. 1. there is no consensus as to whether androgen therapy either before or with external radiation therapy provides longer life for patients with early stage intermediate prostate cancer., and in several large studies they flatly stated that androgen therapy with radiation provided no benefit. i have early stage intermediate and two urologists i consulted previously insisted androgen therapy was important. sent copies of abstracts of the studies i found am speaking to him about his reaction to them. what's yours?
My treatment included ADT beginning with bicalutimide (4 months) and ADT Eligard every 3 months for 18 months along with seed implant (next Friday). I had Beam radiation (25 days) and removal of tumor in urethra (TURP). I have had 3 of the Eligard shots. I started the ADT right away and my PSA dropped to .03 almost instantly so it absolutely had an effect.
The data my Oncologist showed me seemed to show very little additonal benefit from the ADT when used along with beam radiation and Seed implant.
I have lobbied my Oncologist to stop the Eligard ADT and he says he would be OK with that.
I know every case is different but the ADT is a hard medicine to live with so I am inclined to stop taking it in my case.
I guess if the PSA starts rising someday I would need to reconsider.
My radiation oncologist and urologist at the time indicated that ADT was beneficial in about 70% of cases for a returning PCa - so I decided to take the 6-month Lupron shot - the negative impacts of that shot lasted some 14 months. I was glad when the effects wore off.
When my PCa returned some 5 years later I was in the 30% group the knee-jerk reaction from my local urologist was to put me on LUPRON - I decided it was time to meet with MDs from a Regional Cancer Center who immediately advised me not to take the ADT therapy but rather undergo stereotactic radiation to kill off the cancer found via a PMSA PET scan. So far I am ok. From a personal perspective, i did not find ADT to be effective. Dennis(ProstateCancer.net TEAM)
