How is androgen-dependent metastatic prostate cancer best treated?

Overview

The principles of management of newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer have changed little since the time of Huggins and his colleagues. Modern clinicians have many more weapons in their therapeutic armamentarium than those pioneers, but little progress has been made in improving the survival of men with this disease. The results of androgen deprivation are comparable using any one of a number of different monotherapy approaches. The use of combined androgen blockade may improve survival in men with minimal disease but at considerable economic cost and with significant impairment of quality of life. The benefit of this therapy for men with more extensive disease is uncertain. New modalities such as intermittent androgen blockade or combination therapies are exciting, but unproven.