Treatment of Estrogen Deficiency after HT

Tuesday, 01 December 2009

Department of Surgery (Urology), Durham VA Medical Center and Duke Prostate Center, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27710, USA. steve.freedland@duke.edu This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is the standard of care for metastatic prostate cancer and is increasingly used to treat asymptomatic patients with prostate-specific antigen recurrence after failed primary therapy. Although effective, ADT is associated with multiple adverse effects, many of which are related to the estrogen deficiency that occurs as a result of treatment. These include increased fracture risk, hot flashes, gynecomastia, serum lipid changes and memory loss. By providing clinicians with a greater awareness of the estrogen deficiency induced adverse effects from ADT, they can proactively intervene on the physical and psychological impact these effects have on patients. Written by: Freedland SJ, Eastham J, Shore N