Risks, benefits, and approaches to hormonal blockade in prostate cancer. Highlights from the European Association of Urology Meeting, March 20-24, 2015, Madrid, Spain

Several abstracts presented at the 2015 European Association of Urology Meeting highlighted new developments in hormone therapy for prostate cancer management.

One abstract described how the luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH)/gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist leuprolide, but not the LHRH/GnRH antagonist degarelix, induced plaque instability in a mouse model.

A second abstract showed that in patients with a history of severe cardiovascular disease, degarelix was associated with fewer cardiovascular events than treatment with an LHRH agonist.

A third abstract showed how primary androgen-deprivation therapy was linked with increased all-cause mortality in a US registry.

A fourth abstract showed that in the ANAMEN study, cognitive performance was not significantly affected by 6 months of treatment with GnRH agonists. Last, a fifth abstract showed that low-dose prednisone, with or without abiraterone, was associated with an overall low incidence of corticosteroid-associated adverse events.

Can J Urol. 2015 Jun;22(3):7847-52.

Barkin J1.

University of Toronto, Humber River Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.