Treatment of prostatic cancer. Newer forms of androgen deprivation.

The hope of providing a safe alternative to bilateral orchiectomy for patients with prostatic cancer has spurred the development in recent years of various agents capable of reducing androgen level. Another reason for intensifying these efforts relates to the hope held by many clinicians that earlier initiation of androgen deprivation for patients with regional or distant metastases will improve the patient's course. Finally, attempts to provide a more complete androgen blockade hold the hope of delaying or preventing relapse, which usually occurs with continued androgen deprivation.