The treatment of disseminated prostate cancer with estramustine.

Forty-three patients with disseminated prostate cancer, resistant to orchidectomy or hormone therapy with estramustine were treated. Of the 33 evaluable patients, three patients had stable disease and two had a partial tumour response according to National Prostatic Cancer Project criteria. Twenty-five patients (58%) showed improvement in pain and urinary symptoms. Ten patients (23%) had side effects requiring cessation of therapy. These results show that estramustine has a limited role in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer and that therapy is frequently associated with intolerable side effects.