SERUM TESTOSTERONE AS A PROGNOSTIC FACTOR IN PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED PROSTATIC-CARCINOMA

In 245 patients with previously untreated advanced carcinoma of the pr ostate, serum concentrations of testosterone have been measured before androgen deprivation therapy, and patients were divided in quartiles according to their serum concentration. Pretreatment level of serum te stosterone was confirmed as having significant prognostic value on pro gression-free, overall, and cancer-specific survival, and the hazard r atios of lower quartiles compared to the upper quartile for these endp oints were 2.3, 2.1, and 2.0, respectively. However, correlations with symptomatology and other pretreatment parameters suggest that low ser um testosterone merely is a consequence of the advanced malignancy rat her than a causative factor in the pathogenesis of prostatic cancer.