The effect of orchiectomy on lung cancer survival

Gender is an independent prognostic factor for survival from lung cancer wi th the relative risk of lung cancer death for men compared to women being 1 .3. This observation remains unexplained but in vitro data suggests a stimu latory effect of androgens on lung cancer growth. we hypothesized that andr ogen deprivation improves survival in men with lung cancer compared to horm onally intact men with lung cancer on the basis of age, race and region, we matched 44 men with lung cancer and bilateral orchiectomy with 88 men who had lung cancel and no history of orchiectomy and compared their survival. Since hazards were non-proportional we chose the generalized gamma model to describe the survival function. The survival was significantly different b etween the two groups (p = 0.0048) with the orchiectomy, group having a bet ter two year overall survival. This retrospective study suggests that andro gen depletion may significantly improve the short term survival of men with lung cancer but further prospective investigation is required for confirma tion.