Abstract
Hormone-resistant prostate cancer patients are elderly, frail and in pain. They have a median survival of 6 months. There is no convincing evidence from controlled trials that anything we do will increase life expectancy. Any attempt to do so with currently available agents may either kill them earlier or decrease the quality of the short life left to them. The alternatives for management include the simple, non-toxic, supportive measures of better analgesic use, antiandrogen withdrawal, external beam radiation and steroids, which can produce significant symptomatic improvement. There is little evidence that the benefits of more aggressive therapy exceed those achieved with supportive care.
MeSH terms
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Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / adverse effects
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Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / pharmacology
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Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / therapeutic use*
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Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / adverse effects
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Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / pharmacology
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Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
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Bone Neoplasms / secondary
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Bone Neoplasms / therapy
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Cost-Benefit Analysis
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Drug Resistance, Neoplasm
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Humans
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Male
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Palliative Care*
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Prostate-Specific Antigen / blood*
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Prostatic Neoplasms / drug therapy*
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Prostatic Neoplasms / mortality
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Prostatic Neoplasms / radiotherapy
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Quality of Life
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Risk Assessment
Substances
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Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal
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Prostate-Specific Antigen