[Chemo-endocrine therapy for newly diagnosed stage D2 prostate cancer]

We evaluated 175 patients with newly diagnosed stage D2 prostate cancer who had been treated in our hospital between 1992 and 2003 to compare chemo-endocrine therapy with endocrine therapy alone. One hundred and thirty seven patients were treated with endocrine therapy alone. The other 38 patients received chemo-endocrine therapy, which included medical or surgical castration with/without antiandrogen plus VIP (Vincristine, Ifosfamide, Peplomycin) regimen or other cytotoxic agents. The patients treated with chemo-endocrine therapy had a significantly better prognosis than the patients treated with endocrine therapy alone (p<0.05), although treatment was not randomized. The cause-specific survival rates at 5 years for the chemo-endocrine therapy group and the endocrine therapy group were 61.6% and 34.8%, respectively. These data suggest that chemo-endocrine therapy is a potentially effective treatment for newly diagnosed stage D2 prostate cancer.