Adjuvant Androgen Deprivation: Basis and Justification

Abstract

Incidental prostatic carcinoma has a frequency that varies between 3.5% and 25% of prostatic adenocarcinoma [1, 2]. The varying percentages that can be found in the literature are due to the different ways in which biopsies for histological examination are taken and the amount of tissue examined [4]. Prostatic carcinoma can remain stable or progress locally and eventually metastasize [3]. To determine the prognosis of these patients, various factors must be taken into consideration that may permit a prediction of the biological aggressivness of these tumors. A number of authors have tried to establish the role in the evolution of the disease of: age (paying attention to the relationship between age in association with histological grade) [12]; stage of disease (number of foci, bilaterality, tumor volume extent, related to the histological grade) [13]; Gleason score [9]; steroid receptors [5]; and nuclear DNA [5].