[Hormone treatment of prostate cancer in Norway]

The aim of our study was to determine the association between hormone treatment of prostate cancer and survival for those affected.

Data were retrieved from several official Norwegian registries on hormone treatment, cancer in various stages, and the use of radical prostatectomies and external beam radiation therapy with curative intent.

The number of patients treated with hormones has risen 10-fold during the last decade. GnRH analogues and/or bicalutamide are used to treat more than 90 % of patients. The counties that use radical prostatectomy most frequently also have the most pronounced increase in hormone treatment and the increases in parallel over time. A cohort of Norwegian men will have a net loss of 1025 patient-years over a 10-year period if the number of patient-years gained and lost is calculated with current treatment practice and based on the number of radical treated and hormone-treated patients and expected survival with prostate cancer in Norway and expectations according to randomised, controlled studies on radical treatment and hormone treatment in general.

There are reasons to discuss whether the extent of hormone-treatment and radical treatment should be reduced. A reduction would be most easily achieved by reducing wild-screening of PSA in serum.