While suppressing testosterone to castration levels is the aim of androgen deprivation therapy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, studies have shown that prolonged low testosterone levels can have negative effects on patients' overall health and quality of life. This podcast covers two recently published papers that examined testosterone recovery in different ways. One real-world study assessed the impact of delayed testosterone recovery on clinical outcomes in patients with prostate cancer. A second subgroup analysis of the HERO trial assessed rates of testosterone recovery in patients receiving the long-acting, injectable gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor agonist, leuprolide or the oral, once-daily gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor antagonist, relugolix.
Keywords: GnRH agonists or antagonists; advanced prostate cancer; androgen deprivation therapy; podcast; testosterone recovery.
Medicines that lower testosterone levels, known as androgen deprivation therapies, are used to treat advanced prostate cancer. Low testosterone levels cause unwanted side effects in many patients, especially over a long time. This podcast covers two studies of patients with prostate cancer who were treated with androgen deprivation therapies. The first study looked at patients in real-life settings (doctors’ offices and hospitals). This study compared the health outcomes of patients whose testosterone levels stayed low with patients whose testosterone levels returned to normal 1 year after treatment stopped. A second study looked at patients who were treated with relugolix or leuprolide in a clinical trial setting to see how many patients’ testosterone levels returned to normal 3 months after treatment stopped.