(Objective) There are few clinical investigations on the hot flushes that develop during endocrine therapy for prostate cancer in Japan, although there are many reports in the Western countries. Therefore, we evaluated the incidence of hot flushes and the association between hot flushes and clinical characteristics of prostate cancer patients receiving endocrine therapy.
(Patients and methods) Sixty-eight prostate cancer patients receiving endocrine therapy LH-RH analog (group LH-RHA); 22 patients, LH-RHA+non-steroidal antiandrogen (group LH-RHA+NSAA); 20 patients, LH-RHA+steroidal antiandrogen (group LH-RHA+SAA); 8 patients, LH-RHA+estramustine phosphate (group LH-RHA+EP); 1 patient, bilateral orchiectomy (group O); 5 patients, O+non-steroidal antiandrogen (group O+NSAA); 11 patients, and O+steroidal antiandrogen (group O+SAA); 1 patient were evaluated by a fixed questionnaire. The incidence of the hot flush, the association between hot flushes and the clinical factors, as well as the therapy of hot flushes including SAA and
Kampo therapy were analyzed.
(Results) The overall incidence of hot flushes was 37% (36% in group LH-RHA, 45% in group LH-RHA+NSAA, 13% in group LH-RHA+SAA, 0% in group LH-RHA+EP, 20% in group O, 45% in group O+NSAA, 100% in group O+SAA). No significant association between the hot flushes and the clinical factors of the patients was observed. On the other hand, in 3 of 4 patients treated by SAA, hot flushes improved after 4 weeks. In 2 of 3 patients treated by
Kampo, hot flushes improved after 4 weeks.
(Conclusion) Hot flushes are the major side effect of endocrine therapy for Japanese prostate cancer patients. SAA and
Kampo are thought to be effective for treatment of hot flushes.
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