Mednet Logo

Why is there a benefit of ADT for high risk prostate cancer treated with radiation, yet no large trials describing benefit of adjuvant ADT after radical prostatectomy?

If ADT acts as a systemic treatment, we would have expected to see a benefit with an RP just like with radiation. Yet, this is not the case. What are the potential reasons to explain this difference?
5 Answers
Mednet Member
Mednet MemberInvited Expert
Radiation Oncology · Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Answered on

From a high level, the magnitude of the benefit of ADT with radiation seems proportional to the aggressiveness of the disease (i.e. low risk has no significant benefit, int risk weighs risk features and cardiac health, and high risk the benefit of ADT can trump cardiac risk).

In that context, we hav...

Join for free or sign in to see the full answer

Mednet Member
Mednet Member
Radiation Oncology · Emory University Afflilated Hospitals & Clinics
Answered on
I agree with @Dr. First Last's answer with some additional thoughts-
  1. Leveraging the ambiguity of the question, if we consider the “highest-risk” locoregional disease (i.e. node positive) adjuvant ADT showed a survival benefit over surgery alone in ECOG 3886. As mentioned above, finding a benefit to...

Join for free or sign in to see the full answer

Mednet Member
Mednet Member
Radiation Oncology · Northside Hospital
Answered on

All interesting commentaries. Could there be a synergistic effect between RT and ADT whereby a diminished testosterone level enhances the sensitivity of the malignant cells in which RT is more effective in the local +/- the regional space, and could there be an abscopal effect in the distant space w...

Join for free or sign in to see the full answer

Mednet Member
Mednet Member
Radiation Oncology · Radiation Medical Group
Answered on

My 2 cents on this topic.

Historically, "definitive" RT often cytoreduces a prostate cancer by something like 99.999% or a similar magnitude concept, rather than flat wiping it out forever (treated every cell but didn't kill every cell. It takes something like another 8 years for that outcome to be ...

Join for free or sign in to see the full answer

Mednet Member
Mednet Member
Radiation Oncology · National Cancer Institute
Answered on

Many moons ago, a famous urologist had quipped: “Prostatectomy only cures those prostate cancers that didn’t need to be cured and it doesn’t cure any cancers that needed to be cured”. In other words, prostatectomy only provides a generous biopsy. It adds little to the likelihood of a cure beyond wha...

Join for free or sign in to see the full answer