Tailoring of hormonal therapy in prostate cancer

With an increasing interest in the early introduction of hormonal therapy i n patients who cannot be cured of their prostate cancer by radical surgery or radiotherapy, there is a need to consider the most patient-friendly, eff ective hormonal therapy at each stage of the disease, thereby hoping not on ly to improve the quantity of the patient's life but also to maintain a rea sonable quality of life. With the development of new hormonal therapies suc h as nonsteroidal androgens, LHRH-antagonists and differentiation agents, u rologists need to look again at the hormonal status of their patients befor e prescribing an appropriate therapy. There is increasing evidence that at certain stages of the disease patients are prepared to trade off the length of life for improved quality and bearing this in mind there needs to be so me substantial re-thinking over the most appropriate therapy, particularly at early stages of the patient's disease and following progression to the l ater stages.