Risk for death significantly lower for patients with return of serum testosterone to normal range value<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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TUESDAY, Feb. 18, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Serum testosterone (T) recovery to normal levels is associated with a significant improvement in overall survival in patients with high-risk prostate cancer receiving radiotherapy and long-term androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), according to a study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, held from Feb. 13 to 15 in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Abdenour Nabid, M.D., from Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada, and colleagues randomly assigned 630 patients with high-risk prostate cancer to pelvic radiotherapy plus 36 versus 18 months of ADT (310 and 320 patients, respectively). Serum T was collected at baseline and regularly thereafter. T recovery was defined as return of T to within the normal range value of each participating institution. T data were available for 515 patients who were retained for the analysis.<\/p>\n
Overall, 6,587 T measurements were available during a period of 22 years (median follow-up, 17.4 years). The researchers found that 52.4 percent of patients recovered T to normal levels: 57.0 and 44.3 percent in the 18- and 36-month cohorts, respectively. Patients not recovering T to a normal level were older, had higher clinical stage, and had diabetes. The median time to T recovery was 3.6 years among patients regaining T to a normal level. The 10- and 15-year overall survival rates were 76 and 44 percent, respectively, among those recovering T versus 55 and 30 percent, respectively, for those not recovering T. When considering the global hazard ratio, a significantly lower risk for death favored patients recovering T (hazard ratio, 0.54).<\/p>\n
“The increased death rate in patients not recovering T is likely due to causes unrelated to prostate cancer,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n