Prostate Cancer Update: 2007

In 2007, significant advancements were made in prostate cancer research, with studies focusing on risk assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. Key findings included the use of prostate-specific antigen doubling time (PSA-DT) as a prognostic indicator for mortality after prostatectomy, with a PSA-DT of less than 3 months indicating the highest risk of death. A comprehensive nomogram for predicting progression-free probability after salvage radiotherapy was developed, and a retrospective study of 4,892 patients highlighted the cardiovascular risks associated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), including a higher incidence of cardiovascular death and potentially earlier fatal myocardial infarctions in men over 65. In hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC), a study on atrasentan involving 809 men did not meet its primary endpoint, and while a phase II study on calcitriol and docetaxel showed improved survival, a subsequent phase III trial was terminated early due to increased deaths. Another study provided baseline data for second-line chemotherapy in an 82-patient cohort with docetaxel-refractory metastatic HRPC. These findings underscore the importance of tailoring treatments to individual patients and the need for further research on ADT's balance between disease-specific survival and all-cause mortality, as well as defining second-line treatments for taxane-resistant HRPC.