Testosterone Treatment for Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States.

Approximately one of seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. One of 39 men will die of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is typically treated with chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. A less aggressive treatment, which has undergone recent clinical studies, involves depleting the patient’s testosterone levels to reduce the prostate cancer growth, and then reintroducing the hormone.

Dr. Samuel Denmeade led the research team at Johns Hopkins University to explore the effects of testosterone on prostate cancer. Prostate cancer patients were deprived of testosterone and then treated with the hormone. In some cases, the cancer cells died completely. About one-third of the patients in the study responded very well to the testosterone treatment.

Listen as Dr. Denmeade joins Dr. Susanne Bennett to share the results of the study and the potential future for testosterone treatment of prostate cancer.