This is another study suggesting that androgen deprivation achieved with surgical castration may have a different and possibly better outcomes than that achieved with the LHRH drugs like Zoladex and Lupron. In this study, from Brazil, the patients could choose between pharmacological or surgical castration. The patients who went for the surgical route were significantly less likely to develop diabetes.
One problem with this study is that the patients in the two groups differed at the outset. The men, who elected surgery, were significantly older and generally sicker than the ones who went for chemical castration.
Vargas A, Machado RD, Filho DI, Paiva CE, Dos Reis RB, Tobias-Machado M, Faria EF. 2016. LHRH analog therapy is associated with worse metabolic side effects than bilateral orchiectomy in prostate cancer. World J Urol [Epub ahead of print] 21 April 2016. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27103427