Sarkar and colleagues study the effect of testosterone therapy (TT) in men that were treated with curative intent (radiation therapy or surgery). From a significant cohort(~70,000 men) a group of men undergoing TT was compared to those who did not, and biochemical recurrence was used as an endpoint. The authors recognize the limitation that this an observational type of study, as time on testosterone, and serum testosterone values were not available.
Nevertheless, the fact that TT did not increase biochemical recurrence rate, suggest that testosterone therapy is safe in these selected men with localized prostate cancer after definitive treatment.
Written by: Jack Schalken, PhD, Professor, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Reference:
- Sarkar RR, Patel SH, Parsons JK, Deka R, Kumar A, Einck JP, Mundt AJ, Kader AK, Kane CJ, Riviere P, McKay R, Murphy JD, Rose BS. Testosterone therapy does not increase the risks of prostate cancer recurrence or death after definitivetreatment for localized disease. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2020 Jun 8. doi:10.1038/s41391-020-0241-3. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32513967.