Testosterone recovery post discontinuation of androgen deprivation for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer

While suppressing testosterone to castration levels is the aim of androgen
deprivation therapy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, studies have
shown that prolonged low testosterone levels can have negative effects on
patients’ overall health and quality of life. This podcast covers two
recently published papers that examined testosterone recovery in different ways.
One real-world study assessed the impact of delayed testosterone recovery on
clinical outcomes in patients with prostate cancer. A second subgroup analysis
of the HERO trial assessed rates of testosterone recovery in patients receiving
the long-acting, injectable gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor agonist,
leuprolide or the oral, once-daily gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor
antagonist, relugolix. Medicines that lower testosterone levels, known as androgen deprivation
therapies, are used to treat advanced prostate cancer. Low testosterone levels
cause unwanted side effects in many patients, especially over a long time. This
podcast covers two studies of patients with prostate cancer who were treated
with androgen deprivation therapies. The first study looked at patients in
real-life settings (doctors’ offices and hospitals). This study compared
the health outcomes of patients whose testosterone levels stayed low with
patients whose testosterone levels returned to normal 1 year after treatment
stopped. A second study looked at patients who were treated with relugolix or
leuprolide in a clinical trial setting to see how many patients’
testosterone levels returned to normal 3 months after treatment stopped. A PDF version of this infographic is available as supplemental
material.