New developments in metastatic prostate cancer therapy

Metastatic prostate cancer is still commonly a lethal condition. The concept that 'men with prostate cancer die with rather than of their cancer' has been shown to be false. It is estimated that 10-20% of men in the UK present with locally advanced disease. Median overall survival remains only 3.5 years for men presenting with metastatic disease. The use of LHRH analogues to achieve medical castration has become the gold standard for both locally advanced prostate cancer, combined with radiotherapy, and metastatic disease. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is the standard first-line treatment for advanced disease resulting in improvements in symptoms, radiological findings and PSA levels. Ultimately the majority of men with advanced prostate cancer will develop resistance to ADT Docetaxel is the standard first-line therapy recommended by international guidelines for patients with symptomatic metastatic castrate refractory prostate cancer who are suitable candidates for chemotherapy. More than 90% of patients with castrate refractory prostate cancer have bone metastases. Radium-223 dichloride is a novel alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical agent, which mimics calcium and therefore targets bone metastases. It is indicated in patients with metastatic castrate refractory prostate cancer who have symptomatic bone metastases without visceral metastases.