Short-Term ADT with Radiotherapy Ups Prostate Cancer Survival

The findings by Dr. Christopher U. Jones and his colleagues make it seem reasonable to conclude that hormonal therapy is not indicated in men with low-risk prostate cancer, said Dr. Anthony V. D’Amico.

However, further study is needed to determine whether it may be worthwhile in men deemed low risk who have one adverse factor such as less than 50% positive findings on prostate biopsy, perineural invasion, or a PSA velocity of more than 2 ng/mL per year.

The combined regimen must be evaluated more closely in this patient subgroup and the subgroup of men who are considered to be high risk at baseline, whose numbers may have been too small in this study to allow definitive conclusions to be reached, he wrote.

Dr. D’Amico is with the department of radiation oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. He reported no financial conflicts of interest. These remarks were adapted from his editorial accompanying Dr. Jones’ report (N. Engl. J. Med. 2011;365:169-70)..