Combination of external irradiation and androgen suppression for prostate cancer: Facts and questions

The combination of radiotherapy and androgen suppression with luteinizing hormone releasing hormone agonist is mainly devoted to locally advanced prostate cancer and intermediate or poor risk localized prostate cancer. They are based on phase III randomized trials which have shown that for locally advanced prostate cancer, a four-month complete androgen blockade initiated two months prior radiotherapy and stopped at the completion of radiotherapy increased overall survival in patients with Gleason scores 2-6, meanwhile, an adjuvant long-term androgen suppression (2.5 to three years) improved significantly the overall survival. Complete androgen blockade with a four to six months duration, combined with external irradiation, enhanced the overall survival in patients with intermediate or poor risk localized prostate cancer. (authors)