[A comparative study of the effect of Zoladex treatment versus orchiectomy in patients with advanced prostatic...

The study entered sixty patients with advanced carcinoma of the prostate that were treated and followed-up by the authors. The median age was 70.3 years (range 58-83 years). In all patients a prostatic carcinoma has been morphologically proven. Orchiectomy was performed in 27 of them. Conservative treatment with Zoladex-monotherapy was applied in 21 patients and a combination of orchiectomy plus Zoladex-in 12 of the remaining. All patients were followed-up for the period of 3 months. Subjective and objective parameters were evaluated at 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks during the treatment. Positive response to treatment was reported in 76% of the patients from the group of orchiectomy alone, 72% among the patients in the group of Zoladex depot and up to 80% in patients treated with orchiectomy plus Zoladex. The average time to achieve positive response was stated to be seven weeks for orchiectomy and Zoladex as a monotherapy and six weeks for the combination therapy.