Table of Contents

Chapter 2: Initial Treatment: Weighing the Pros and Cons of Each Option

iii. Neoadjuvant Hormone Therapy

As we’ll discuss in Chapter 6, hormone therapy remains a staple in the management of advanced prostate cancer. But in the past few years, researchers have been exploring ways to incorporate this therapy earlier, in the hopes of improving outcomes even more.

Hormone therapy is the general term given for any surgical or drug therapy that prevents the release and/or action of testosterone, the naturally occurring male hormone that fuels prostate cancer growth. A number of studies have shown that initiation of short courses of hormone therapy can shrink larger tumors, thereby making it easier for oncologists to localize the radiation needed to kill the tumor cells, and significantly improving outcomes. This use of neoadjuvant hormone therapy (neo, meaning first or early; adjuvant, meaning in addition to) is separate and distinct from the hormone therapy that you might receive should your prostate cancer return.

The boost that neoadjuvant hormone therapy gives to the success of radiation therapy has resulted in the approach becoming the standard of care in many institutions for men with high-grade cancers and/or those with larger, bulkier tumors.