NEXT GENERATION

Androgen Deprivation Therapy

Section Editor: Celestia S. Higano, MD

One of the major treatments for prostate cancer is androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), and about 50% of prostate cancer patients are treated with ADT at some point in their disease. ADT is used most frequently for patients with local but advanced prostate cancer or metastatic prostate cancer. The rate of ADT use in the USA increased in the 1990s and continues to be high today. ADT treatments work to decrease the amount of androgens in the prostate microenvironment to prevent this tumor progression from initiating via testosterone. This can be done with medical or surgical castration (orchiectomy). Many different types of drugs are available and approved for use as ADT for prostate cancer patients, but use different mechanisms of action (eg, LHRH agonists, LHRH antagonists, CYP17 inhibitors, and older and newer anti-androgens). There are many issues around hormone therapy that not all doctors agree on, such as the best time to start and stop it and the best way to give it. Studies are now looking at these issues, and we hope that this Next Generation Learning Center will provide additional information for the practicing physician.

Foundations in Androgen Deprivation Therapy

Side Effects of ADT

Expert Panel Discussions

SECTION EDITOR

Celestia S. Higano, MD
University of Washington School of Medicine
Seattle, Washington
Celestia (Tia) S. Higano, MD, FACP, was formerly a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Urology, Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Washington, and Clinical Division of Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She has been the Medical Director of the Prostate Cancer Supportive Care Program at the Vancouver Prostate Centre since 2013.
 
Dr. Higano received her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completed her residency at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, MN. She was an oncology fellow under E. Donnall Thomas and Robert B. Livingston at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington.
 
Dr. Higano is an internationally renowned expert and clinical researcher focusing on prostate cancer. At UW, she led the prostate cancer clinical research group that participated in developing agents such as zoledronic acid, sipuleucel-T, enzalutamide, apalutamide, abiraterone, radium 223. Over these years, her clinical research has impacted the standards of care for patients with prostate cancer. She is a passionate educator and mentor and has guided many fellows and young faculty at the University of Washington and elsewhere who have chosen an academic career in GU Oncology.

Supported in part by Verity Pharmaceuticals.