Impact of Concomitant Medications on Biochemical Outcome in Localised Prostate Cancer Treated with Radiotherapy and...

Several classes of concomitant medications have been shown to affect oncological outcomes in patients with prostate cancer (PCa). We assessed the association between the use of commonly prescribed concomitant medications and biochemical relapse-free survival (bRFS) in patients with localised PCa treated with radiotherapy and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

A secondary pooled analysis of two phase III randomised trials was carried out. In the first trial, patients with localised PCa with clinical stage T1b-T3, prostate-specific antigen <30 ng/ml and Gleason score ≤7 were treated with radical radiotherapy and 6 months of ADT starting 4 months before or concomitantly with radiotherapy. In the second trial, patients with high-risk PCa were treated with radical radiotherapy and 36 months of ADT with randomisation to three-dimensional conformal or intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Information on concomitant medications was collected from the medical record. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression was used to identify factors associated with bRFS.

Overall, 486 patients were evaluable. The median follow-up was 125 months; 10-year bRFS was 83.7%. On univariable analysis, receipt of metformin was significantly associated with worse bRFS. Ten-year bRFS was 73% and 85% for patients with and without concomitant metformin (adjusted hazard ratio 2.11, 95% confidence interval 1.03-4.33). Similar evidence of an association was observed with sulfonamide-based α1-receptor blockers (adjusted hazard ratio 2.72, 95% confidence interval 1.31-5.66). However, no such association was seen with receipt of quinazoline-based α1-receptor blockers (adjusted hazard ratio 1.09, 95% confidence interval 0.42-2.82). There was no significant association between bRFS and receipt of all other medication classes considered.

In this population of patients with localised PCa treated with radiotherapy and ADT, receipt of concomitant metformin and sulfonamide-based α1-receptor blockers was associated with inferior biochemical outcome. Randomised trials are required to assess the true effect of these medications on oncological outcomes in localised PCa.