Androgen-deprivation therapy alone versus combined with radiation therapy or chemotherapy for nonlocalized prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

In this paper, we reviewed the long-term survival outcomes, safety, and quality-of-life of androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) alone versus combined with radiation therapy (RT) or chemotherapy for locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer (PCa). A literature search was performed using OvidSP. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that met the following criteria were included: including locally advanced or metastatic PCa, comparing ADT alone versus combined with any treatment method and reporting quantitative data of disease control or survival outcomes. Finally, eight RCTs met the inclusion criteria. Among these, three compared ADT versus ADT plus RT (n = 2344) and one compared ADT versus ADT plus docetaxel–estramustine (n = 413) in locally advanced PCa; two compared ADT versus ADT plus docetaxel (n = 1175) and two compared ADT versus ADT plus estramustine (n = 114) in metastatic PCa. For locally advanced PCa, the addition of RT to long-term ADT can improve the outcomes of survival and tumor control with fully acceptable adverse effects. Specially, the pooled odds ratio (OR) of overall survival (OS) was 1.43 (95% confidence interval 1.20–1.71) when compared ADT plus RT with ADT alone (P < 0.0001). For metastatic hormonally sensitive PCa, the concurrent use of docetaxel plus ADT was effective and safe (pooled OR of OS: 1.29 [1.01–1.65]: P = 0.04). In all, long-term ADT plus RT and long-term ADT plus docetaxel should be considered as proper treatment option in locally advanced and metastatic hormonally sensitive PCa, respectively. The major limitation for the paper was that only eight RCTs were available.