For patients with high-risk prostate cancer, testosterone recovery is shorter for patients receiving 18 months versus 36 months of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), and is associated with improved quality of life, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, held from Sept. 14 to 18 in San Francisco.
Abdenour Nabid, M.D., from the University Hospital Centre of Sherbrooke in Canada, and colleagues examined quality of life after testosterone recovery in a multicenter randomized trial comparing 18 months ADT with 36 months ADT. Quality of life was assessed using the validated EORTC30 and PR25 tools, which included 55 items that were grouped in 21 scales.
The researchers found that with an 84-month median follow-up, 50.9 percent of patients recovered normal testosterone levels (55.7 percent in 18-month ADT versus 44.9 percent in 36-month ADT; P = 0.01).
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The median time to testosterone recovery was shorter in the 18- versus 36-month ADT group (47.2 versus 73.2 months; P < 0.001). Patients with testosterone recovery had better quality of life, with significant differences in 26/55 items and 12/21 scales. Five of the 26 items and one of 12 scales were clinically relevant.
“The results of the analysis are not surprising considering the side effects of ADT, and that testosterone recovery has significant impact on patients’ improved quality of life,” Nabid said in a statement.
One author disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, which funded the study.
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