Immediate Versus Deferred Hormonal Treatment for Patients With Prostate Cancer Who are Not Suitable for Curative Local Treatment: Results of the Randomized Trial SAKK 08/88

Abstract

protracted natural history of the disease. In a recent paper from our institution Rogers et al studied patients who had a detectable PSA immediately following radical prostatectomy.2 Virtually all of them went on to develop distant metastasis. However, at 3 years 68% were metastasis-free, at 5 years 49% and at 10 years 22%. Thus, because of the protracted natural history of the disease it is very difficult to correlate PSA dynamics and disease recurrence. Patrick C. Walsh, M.D. 1. Horwitz, E. M., Thames, H. D., Kuban, D. A., Levy, L. B., Kupelian, P. A., Martinez, A. A. et al: Definitions of biochemical failure that best predict clinical failure in patients with prostate cancer treated with external beam radiation alone: a multi-institutional pooled analysis. J Urol, 173: 797, 2005 2. Rogers, C. G., Khan, M. A., Craig Miller, M., Veltri, R. W. and Partin, A. W.: Natural history of disease progression in patients who fail to achieve an undetectable prostate-specific antigen level after undergoing radical prostatectomy. Cancer, 101: 2549, 2004