ED from prostate cancer hormone therapy treatable

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study shows that a substantial minority of men receiving so-called androgen deprivation therapy, or ADT, for prostate cancer experience erectile dysfunction (ED). However, many respond well to ED therapy, doctors from Memphis have found.

Men with advanced prostate cancer may be given ADT to stop their production of testosterone, which may drive tumor growth.

ED is "grossly underreported" by men treated with ADT, Dr. Ithaar H. Derweesh told Reuters Health. Moreover, "studies that have been reported in the literature have tended to focus on decreased libido (sex drive) and have not examined the issue of erectile dysfunction per se."

Given that there is a lack of information on the prevalence of ED and the response to its treatment in patients receiving ADT, Derweesh and colleagues at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center studied 395 men treated with ADT at their institution over a period of about 15 years. The average age of the men was 71.7 years and the men were followed for more than 7 years.

During that time, 14.4 percent of men reported ED, they report, and 70 percent of these men had "new-onset" ED.

According to Derweesh and colleagues, 47 percent of men with ED responded successfully to ED treatment, most often with drugs such as Viagra.

"We demonstrate for the first time in a large series," Derweesh noted, that these types of drugs are effective in the treatment of ED caused by androgen deprivation therapy.

SOURCE: BJU International 2008.