A study of hypogonadal men undergoing testosterone therapy has found a lower rate of prostate cancer than previously recorded in screening studies, suggesting the therapy does not increase prostate cancer risk.
Analysis of data from 1,023 hypogonadal men enrolled in three prospective registry studies, who were all being treated with testosterone therapy, found 11 cases of prostate cancer (1.08%), which was significantly lower than the incidence reported in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (7.35%) and the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (9.6%).
The mean baseline patient age was 58 years in the urology setting, and 41 years in the andrology setting, with patients receiving testosterone undecanoate injections at 12-week intervals and followed up for a median of 5 years.
“Despite the widespread belief regarding the contraindication of T [testosterone] therapy in hypogonadal men with known or suspected PCa [prostate cancer], there is no convincing evidence that the normalization of T levels presents a greater risk for the progression of PCa,” wrote Dr. Ahmad Haider, a urologist in Bremerhaven, Germany, and colleagues (J. Urol. 2014 [doi:10.1016/j.juro.2014.06.071]).
Some authors declared financial interests or relationships with a range of pharmaceutical companies.