Im a 70-year-old man who has been told by my doctor that my PSA is now rising 3 years after my radiation for prostate cancer. Should I begin hormonal treatments sooner or later?
This is a very difficult question to answer because there is some conflicting data. However, the preponderance of information that we have to date appears to indicate a longer tumor-free interval for patients who are put on early, rather than late, androgen deprivation therapy. We await further studies before we can make definitive recommendations. However, it does appear that a subset of patients who have more aggressive tumors—that is, PSA equal to or greater than 7 and PSA doubling time less than 9 months—may have a greater benefit from the initiation of early androgen deprivation treatment.
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