Intermittent androgen deprivation therapy...duration of tumor control.
I frequently see patients with prostate cancer that want to know how long they will respond if they choose to be treated with intermittent androgen deprivation therapy (IADT). This involves the injection of a drug such as Lupron or Zoladex (LHRH agonist) usually on a 1-3 month basis plus or minus the ingestion of pills such as Celebrex, Flutamide, Nilutamide (anti-androgens) and Proscar or Avodart (inhibitors of activation of testosterone). A study by A. De La Taille et al. from France attempts to answer the question. From 1989 through 2001 these researchers studied 146 patients who had never receive hormone therapy before. They were treated in an intermittent fashion with LHRH agonist (Lupron, Zoladex) + non-steroidal anti-androgen (Flutamide, Casodex) = 28, LHRH alone = 42, non steroidal anti-androgen alone (i.e. Casodex, Flutamide) = 86. Disease Extent: Localized + locally advanced + metastatic prostate cancer = 72. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) recurrence after radical pro