30
TREATING ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER:LHRH AGONISTS
30 March 2009
by
admin
Filed under
Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction
LHRH agonists are another option. LHRH agonists shut down production of LH. The most commonly prescribed LHRH agonists are leuprolide and goserelin. These drugs are equivalent to treatment with DES or to surgical castration in their ability to lower testosterone and lengthen a man’s lifespan.
A drug called ketoconazole blocks production of testosterone by targeting the testicles. Also, the effects of testosterone on the prostate itself can be blocked by interfering with testosterone’s conversion to DHT—this is what a drug called finasteride does—or by blocking the effects of testosterone and DHT on the prostate cell by neutralizing their effect. This is what flutamide, an “anti-androgen” drug, does.
The standard forms of hormone therapy for men with prostate cancer are castration, estrogens, and LHRH agonists. All three achieve a similar effect—lowering testosterone to the crucial “castrate range.” There is no good evidence that another approach, called total androgen ablation, makes any significant difference in lengthening life expectancy. (The theory behind this approach is that even low levels of testosterone and DHT, produced by the adrenal gland, can stimulate cancer in the prostate, and that they must be stopped. This is done by combining a standard hormone treatment, such as castration, with flutamide.)
*206\201\8*
