Nonmetastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Current Challenges and Trends

AbstractProstate carcinoma is a highly prevalent biologically and clinically diverse disease, generally associated with a consistent elevation of prostate-specific antigen levels. Castration-resistant prostate cancer represents a heterogeneous clinical setting that ranges from patients with an asymptomatic prostate-specific antigen elevation after hormone blockade failure and good performance status to patients with significant debilitating symptoms and rapidly progressive disease, leading to death. Nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is a transient disease stage defined over specific criteria established within a sensitive time period. The majority of the patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer will eventually develop metastatic lesions, associated with prostate cancer-specific morbidity and mortality. However, progression to metastatic disease is a heterogeneous process still not fully understood, with studies suggesting that younger age, high Gleason score (>  7), high prostate-specific antigen levels, reduced prostate-specific antigen doubling time (<  6 months), and a rapid alkaline phosphatase rise as potentially associated factors. Although the nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treatment landscape has substantially evolved in recent years, the disease heterogeneity makes treatment decisions for this population challenging in the effort to achieve a balance between the risk of disease progression and the t...
Source: Clinical Drug Investigation - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research