[Treatment strategy for advanced prostate cancer with bone metastases]

The introduction of PSA screening has led to confirming a shift towards an earlier pathological stage in the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Consequently, the proportion of detecting early stage prostate cancer has clearly been increasing. On the other hand, progressive cancers in the form of distant metastases and locally advanced ones that have been confirmed at the initial diagnosis exhibit a constant rate. In addition, there have been a lot of cases where hormonal resistance was acquired during hormonal therapy which resulted in advanced metastases of the prostate. Prostate cancer has a tendency to be metastatic to bones. Combining the fact that the survival period of patients undergoing treatment is prolonged after metastases, the length of suffering caused by complications, such as ostealgia, pathological fracture and myelopathy, becomes an issue in which QOL and ADL of the patient are sacrificed for a long time. As for treatment of prostate cancer with metastases, a palliative treatment is common in the clinical scene. However, we can extend a life prognosis with use of radiotherapy and surgical treatment in addition to the palliative treatment at an appropriate time. It appears that a combination of new chemotherapy and hormonal therapy will be promising. In the future, we believe that the appearance of new anticancer drugs, endocrine therapies, bisphosphonates and strontium treatment could be used as a part of the treatment strategy for prostate cancer with bone metastases.