Hi all,
here's a couple of different studies: pcf study and ASCO
You'll notice that in the latter study the 5 year survival rate for 3 years of HT is 92% as against 86% for 18 months. Really, they're not comparing apples with apples. The interesting results would be 5 years after ending the 18 months treatment as compared to 5 years after ending the 3 years plan. Put another way, if you've had 3 years HT it can take maybe 18 months for testosterone to come back, so really the 3 years is more like 4.5 years without testosterone which gives the cancer only 6 months to fully develop and kill you. High probability in that situation that it's a failure of the RT and not the length of the HT.
There's always going to be some people for whom the RT treatment doesn't achieve its primary goal and it's not going to matter if the RT is 18 months or 3 years because if all of the cancer has not been treated, it will come back, it's just a question of when.
Personal opinion bit: RT now is way superior to RT ten years ago so hanging on to 3 year HT where you have every reason to believe your initial treatment was successful makes little sense. If you've had RT with a LINAC machine, active monitoring and and the latest technology it's a big step up from the past and the results quoted above for survival will now be out of date.
If you have reason to believe that the initial treatment didn't miss anything and your psa has been rock bottom since that treatment, it's strong support for ceasing HT at 18 months. I was supposed to go for 3 years but stopped at 21 months after a chat with my oncologist. My psa dropped like a stone from very shortly after my RT and stuck at <.01 for the duration on my HT. I suspect that the fast initial psa drop might be significant though I haven't seen any discussion about it here.
I find the idea that stopping HT is merely about QoL somewhat insulting. This stuff is not good for you and as we know, it can increase weight, decrease bone density, increase cholesterol, decrease muscle mass + a few other nasties. Cancer specialists can get a bit narrow in their views of long term goals but if there's nothing to be gained by being on HT it's actually important to stop taking it for your health.
Jules
edit: I should have made it clear that loss of testosterone is the cause of most of these HT problems, not the drug itself but I do reckon there are unpleasant side effects from the drug[s].
Edited by member 18 Apr 2024 at 23:21
| Reason: Not specified