Use of intravenous stilbestrol diphosphate in patients with prostatic carcinoma refractory to conventional hormonal manipulation.

The patient presenting with severe bone pain after primary hormonal therapy, with vertebral collapse, or with uremia resulting from ureteric obstruction should be considered for intravenous stilbestrol diphosphate therapy. The urologist can expect early marked improvement in the patients' mobility and pain, with a reduction in analgesic requirements, from a single 7-day course of treatment. In addition, the drug is inexpensive and free of the side effects commonly associated with cytotoxic therapy. Accurate monitoring of the response is possible with serum prostate-specific antigen measurements, which also enable further therapy to be planned efficiently.