Cost-effectiveness comparison of estrogen therapy and orchidectomy in patients with prostatic cancer.

This study compares the cost of antitumor therapy and adverse cardiovascular effects during the first year of treatment with either exogenous estrogens or orchidectomy of patients with prostatic cancer. We found that the higher costs for the orchidectomy patients were partially outweighed by the costs of treating cardiovascular complications in the estrogen-treated patients; the net overcost of orchidectomy is balanced after two and a half years by the ongoing costs of estrogen treatment. The fact that 25% of the patients treated with estrogen suffered cardiovascular complications, but no difference in mortality rates between the two groups was observed, speaks in favor of orchidectomy as the preferred treatment for prostatic carcinoma.