Intermittent androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) may be as safe as continuous ADT in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer (PCa), researchers concluded.
In a study of 383 men with metastatic PCa, Nicolas Mottet, MD, of the Clinique Mutualiste de la Loire, Saint-Etienne, France, and colleagues observed no statistical difference in either overall or progression-free survival between the two treatment strategies, according to an online report in BJU International. They concluded that intermittent ADT “could be an option in highly responding and well-informed metastatic patients even if no clear benefit in health-related quality of life was shown.”
Dr. Mottet’s team added that intermittent ADT may be of interest to patients with metastatic PCa who experience significant treatment-induced side effects.
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Of the 383 patients, 173 had a PSA level below 4 ng/mL after six months of induction of ADT. The investigators randomized subjects to receive either continuous or intermittent ADT. Median overall survival was 52 and 42 months, respectively, and median progression-free survival was 15.1 and 20.7 months, respectively. The differences between treatment arms were not statistically significant.
The researchers observed significantly fewer treatment-emergent adverse events in the intermittent group, which also had a lower incidence of headache and hot flushes.
