The Veterans' Administration Cooperative Urological Research Group studies of carcinoma of the prostate: a review.

The Veterans' Administration Cooperative Urological Research Group has conducted three consecutive randomized clinical trials of various treatments for all stages of prostatic carcinoma. Thus far, a total of 3774 patients have been entered into these three main studies. The first study showed that early endocrine treatment of patients with advanced prostatic cancer did not increase overall survival when compared to initial treatment with placebo alone. Diethylstilbestrol, when given in a dose of 5.0 mg/day, was associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular deaths. In the second study, diethylstilbestrol given in a dose of 1.0 mg/day has been as effective as the 5.0-mg dose in controlling the prostatic carcinoma but has been associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular deaths. Patients are still being entered into the third study and it is too early to report the findings in detail.