To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Adding Estramustine to Chemotherapy Improves Survival in Patients With Castration-Refractory Prostate Cancer URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/1C2B6E.htm Doctor's Guide October 16, 2007
LONDON, U.K. -- October 16, 2007 -- The addition of estramustine to chemotherapy improves overall survival in patients with castration-refractory prostate cancer compared with survival noted in those given chemotherapy alone, but this benefit has to be balanced against increases in toxicity, according to an article in The Lancet Oncology to be published Online today, Tuesday, October 16, 2007. According to the authors, while previous studies have shown that progression-free survival is longer when estramustine is added to chemotherapy, no individual trial has been powerful enough to detect a statistically significant improvement in overall survival. Therefore, by use of individual patient data from 605 patients with castration-refractory prostate cancer in five randomised trials, Dr. Fizazi (Institut Gustave Roussy, France) and colleagues did a metaanalysis to increase the power of the analysis and assessed whether overall survival was improved by the addition of estramustine to chemotherapy. The authors noted that overall survival was significantly better in patients assigned chemotherapy plus estramustine -- the estimated absolute increase in 1-year overall survival was 9·5%. Furthermore, these patients had a better prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response and a longer time to PSA progression than those patients who did not receive estramustine. However, the authors caution that the overall benefit of adding estramustine to chemotherapy should be weighed against the known toxicities associated with the drug -- in particular, nausea or vomiting and thromboembolic complications. Indeed, they noted an increased number of grade 3 or 4 thromboembolic events in patients who were assigned estramustine plus chemotherapy versus those who were not assigned estramustine (4% vs 0·4%). The authors conclude: "Since treatment with chemotherapy plus estramustine showed increased antitumour activity, this combination as first-line treatment of patients with castration-refractory prostate cancer would seem logical and reasonable, at least in those patients with no major thromboembolic risks and with or without thromboprophylaxis". SOURCE: The Lancet Oncology --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet* located at http://www.docguide.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to News Story Page This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs. All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved.