BACKGROUND Castration resistance occurs in most patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer who are receiving androgen-deprivation therapy. Replacing androgens before progression of the disease is hypothesized to prolong androgen dependence. METHODS Men with newly diagnosed, metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, a performance status of 0 to 2, and a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of 5 ng per milliliter or higher received a luteinizing hormone–releasing hormone analogue and an antiandrogen agent for 7 months. We then randomly assigned patients in whom the PSA level fell to 4 ng per milliliter or lower to continuous or intermittent androgen deprivation, with patients stratified according to prior or no prior hormonal therapy, performance status, and extent of disease (minimal or extensive). The coprimary objectives were to assess whether intermittent therapy was noninferior to continuous therapy with respect to survival, with a one-sided test with an upper boundary of the hazard ratio of 1.20, and whether quality of life differed between the groups 3 months after randomization. RESULTS A total of 3040 patients were enrolled, of whom 1535 were included in the analysis: 765 randomly assigned to continuous androgen deprivation and 770 assigned to intermittent androgen deprivation. The median follow-up period was 9.8 years. Median survival was 5.8 years in the continuous-therapy group and 5.1 years in the intermittent-therapy group (hazard ratio for death with intermittent therapy, 1.10; 90% confidence interval, 0.99 to 1.23). Intermittent therapy was associated with better erectile function and mental health (P<0.001 and P = 0.003, respectively) at month 3 but not thereafter. There were no significant differences between the groups in the number of treatment-related high-grade adverse events. CONCLUSIONS Our findings were statistically inconclusive. In patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, the confidence interval for survival exceeded the upper boundary for noninferiority, suggesting that we cannot rule out a 20% greater risk of death with intermittent therapy than with continuous therapy, but too few events occurred to rule out significant inferiority of intermittent therapy. Intermittent therapy resulted in small improvements in quality of life. (Funded by the National Cancer Institute and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00002651.)

A PSA of 4 ng/mL or less after 7 months of AD is a strong predictor of survival. This data should be used to tailor future trial design for D2 prostate cancer.

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A B S T R A C T PurposeProstate-specific antigen progression (PSA-P) is an indicator of progression in hormone-sensitive (HS) and castration-resistant (CR) prostate cancer (PC). We evaluated different definitions of PSA-P as predictors of overall survival (OS). (PCWG 2008), and other definitions. A time-varying approach analyzed associations between PSA-P at any time and OS. A landmark analysis examined the relationship between PSA-P status at 7 months for S9346, or 3 months for S9916, and subsequent OS. Patients and Methods ResultsIn the time-varying analysis, both working groups definitions were strongly associated with OS (P Ͻ .001) in both study settings. In patients enrolled onto S9346, both definitions predicted a 2.4-fold increased risk of death (ROD) and a greater than four-fold increased ROD if PSA-P occurred in the first 7 months. In S9916, they predicted a 40% increase in ROD and a two-fold increase in ROD if PSA-P occurred at 3 months. In landmark analyses of patients on S9346 by using the PCWG 2008 definition of PSA-P, median subsequent OS was 10 months versus 44 months in patients who did or did not have PSA-P by 7 months, respectively; in S9916, data were 11 months versus 18 months for patients who did or did not have PSA-P by 3 months, respectively. ConclusionPSA-P, defined as an increase of Ն 25% greater than the nadir and an absolute increase of at least 2 or 5 ng/mL, predicts OS in HSPC and CRPC and may be a suitable end point for phase II studies in these settings.

Two cycles of MCV neoadjuvant chemotherapy were not shown to increase the rate of CR over that achieved with our standard induction therapy or to increase freedom from metastatic disease. There was no impact on 5-year overall survival.

Eosinophilic solid and cystic renal cell carcinoma (ESC RCC) has been recently described as a unique and indolent renal neoplasm, found in female patients with and without tuberous sclerosis complex. Although ESC RCC has a distinct morphology and frequent CK20 reactivity, its molecular karyotype has been previously studied only in few cases. We identified 19 ESC RCC from multiple institutions; all patients were female individuals without clinical features of tuberous sclerosis complex. Molecular karyotyping was performed in 13 cases (12 with informative result). The median age was 55 years (range: 32 to 79 y). The tumors were yellow-gray with a median size of 31 mm (range: 12 to 135 mm) and showed solid and cystic gross appearance. All tumors demonstrated typical microscopic features with solid areas admixed with variably sized macrocysts and microcysts. The cells showed eosinophilic cytoplasm with granular cytoplasmic stippling and round-to-oval nuclei. CK20 was positive in 14/19 (74%) cases. Stage pT1 was found in 17/19 (89%) patients (pT1a in 12, pT1b in 5); 1 patient each had pT2a and pT3a. A total of 15/16 patients with available follow-up were alive and without evidence of disease progression, after 1 to 169 months (median: 44 mo; mean: 49.6 mo); 3 died of other causes. The most common copy number gains were 16p13.3-16q23.1 (33% to 67%), 7p21.2-7q36.2 (42% to 50%), 13q14.2 (33%), and 19p12 (33%). The most common copy number losses included Xp11.21 (42%) and 22q11.23 (33%). Loss of heterozygosity was most frequently found at 16p11.2-11.1 (75%), Xq11.1-13.1 (75%), Xq13.1-21.1 (33%), 11p11.2-11.11 (33%), 9q21.1-22.2 (33%), and 9q33.1 (33%). ESC RCC demonstrates common molecular karyotype alterations, which further support its distinct nature.

Biochemical and local control rates support the use of salvage cryoablation for localized recurrence following failed radiation therapy. Efforts to continue to minimize these complications and to improve disease control in patients with persistent cancer following definitive radiotherapy should continue.