title: Hormone-refractory prostate cancer: choosing the appropriate treatment option.
abstract: Hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRCaP) is both heterogeneous and lethal. Multiple treatment options exist, including secondary hormonal manipulations, chemotherapy, experimental options, and best supportive care. Choosing the appropriate therapy for an individual patient depends on several important clinical factors such as the presence or absence of symptomatic metastatic disease, age and comorbidities, and prostate-specific antigen velocity. While only docetaxel (Taxotere)-based chemotherapy has been proven to improve survival in this setting, a wide range of therapies may be effective for any individual. Palliative maneuvers, such as external-beam radiation, bisphosphonate therapy, radiopharmaceuticals, and pain management are critical for appropriate patient management. Several promising novel therapies are in late-stage testing and will hopefully provide more treatment options for these patients.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Robert_Ross@dfci.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: Philip W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Kantoff
mesh_terms: D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen