Dr. McGregor on the Goals of ADT in Prostate Cancer

Pei-Chun McGregor, MD, cardio-oncologist and director of Ambulatory Cardiology at VA Boston Healthcare System, instructor in medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, discusses the goals of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in the treatment of patients with prostate cancer.

ADT is meant to suppress testosterone levels, which is the cause of cancer proliferation in prostate cancer. Those levels can be suppressed either through gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonists and agonists or through newer agents, such as the CYP17 inhibitors or the antiandrogens, explains McGregor.

By suppressing testosterone levels, ADT is essentially chemically-induced menopause, adds McGregor. Therefore, patients will experience all the events associated with menopause, which include loss of libido, erectile dysfunction in men, hot flashes, muscle wasting, development of subcutaneous fat, anemia, fatigue, and cognitive impairment.