[Current treatment of locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer]

Despite the broad use of PSA-testing in western medicine, still an estimated 1/3 of carcinomas of the prostate (PC) are diagnosed in a locally advanced or metastatic stage. In the current treatment-algorithm for locally advanced PC, radical prostatectomy, external beam radiation therapy (with and without hormonal therapy) and primary androgen deprivation are available. In fact, in a majority of patients treatment of this tumor stage will be a multimodal approach, which has to be discussed individually. For metastatic PC hormonal deprivation therapy is still the gold standard. Beside LHRH-agonists, surgical castration and complete androgen deprivation today LHRH-antagonists represent the different therapeutic options in this tumor stage. Effects on natural course of this disease have to be balanced to the side effects of long-term therapy. Castration-resistant PC is not the object of this overview even though there are a variety of new medical interventions emerging for the treatment of this stage of PC.