There is increasing recognition of a benefit in adding ADT to radiotherapy for patients who are receiving salvage radiotherapy (RT) after a “failed” prostatectomy. But is there any benefit in having the ADT, if it is only administered for six months? This study suggests that just six months of ADT indeed helps slow disease progression, according to follow-up assessment of progression-free survival 10 years after the RT.
This was a randomized trial run in France with 374 patient who received RT alone and 369 who received six months of ADT with a standard LHRH agonist (i.e., Zoladex). The patients in the two groups were matched in terms of their risk of disease progression (if not otherwise treated).
After 120 months, a clear advantage was seen for the patients who had the ADT added to their RT. As the authors noted, “Salvage radiotherapy combined with short-term androgen suppression significantly reduced risk of biochemical or clinical progression and death compared with salvage radiotherapy alone.”
To read the study abstract, see:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31629656
Carrie, C., Magne, N., Burban-Provost, P., Sargos, P., Latorzeff, I., Lagrange, J.L., Supiot, S., Belkacemi, Y., Peiffert, D., Allouache, N., Dubray, B.M., Servagi-Vernat, S., Suchaud, J.P., Crehange, G., Guerif, S., Brihoum, M., Barbier, N., Graff-Cailleaud, P., Ruffion, A., Dussart, S., Ferlay, C., & Chabaud, S. (2019). Short-term androgen deprivation therapy combined with radiotherapy as salvage treatment after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer (GETUG-AFU 16): a 112-month follow-up of a phase 3, randomised trial. The Lancet Oncology, pii: S1470-2045(19)30486-3. Advance Online Publication.