[Treatment of metastatic cancer of the prostate]

Rising incidence, resulting from diagnosis together with the increasing age in the population, and high mortality combine to make cancer of the prostate a leading cause of death in men. Despite early, and unfortunately overly optimistic, hopes placed in oestrogen therapy, management of patients with metastatic cancer of the prostate remains one of the major challenges facing urologists. For stage D1 (invasion of the iliac nodes), systemic treatment is required, based on androgen deprivation, with five years disease free survival ranging from 55% to 95%. Radical prostatectomy is not indicated in cases of pathologically confirmed macroscopic nodal involvement, but the question remains controversial for patients with microscopic metastases. Pelvic radiotherapy at "curative doses" is not indicated because of the lack of any improvement over hormone therapy alone. Controversies still exist about timing of androgen deprivation (early or deferred endocrine treatment) either for stage D1 or stage D2 asymptomatic patients, but controlled studies are ongoing. Immediate endocrine therapy is however clearly indicated in stage D2 symptomatic disease and leads to improvement of symptoms (mainly bone pain) in up to 80% of patients. When there is spinal cord compression adding corticosteroids can be useful; surgery or radiotherapy are indicated particularly in cases of vertebral instability or neurological involvement. Current protocols are based on maximal androgen deprivation combining medical or surgical castration and anti-androgens. Prognosis is very poor at relapse despite hormone therapy (stage D3). Survival rate at 1 year is only 50%. It is essential that anti-androgens be withdrawn at this time since clinical improvement can be observed in some patients (anti-androgen withdrawal syndrome). None of the second line treatments (hormonal or chemotherapy) have led to any improvement in survival time. Treatments only alleviate patient discomfort and improve quality of life. The lack of progress over the last 50 years in the treatment of advanced stage cancer of the prostate means that the only way to cure future patients will be conditioned by early diagnosis and treatment during the less advanced stages.