Should I Receive Hormone Therapy Before Surgery?

March 16, 2009 -- Question: Should I receive hormone therapy before surgery (neoadjuvant hormone therapy)?

Answer: First of all let me tell you that if you have recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer, you should seek advice from the team of experts that manage prostate cancer. That is the urologist, the radiation therapist, and the medical oncologist, because from their advice, you will be able to reach an educated decision that is best for you, for your condition, and for your own beliefs. So to answer this question, I will say that there is no proven evidence that hormonal therapy is of any benefit before radical prostatectomy. And studies have been conducted looking at this question using three months and eight months of hormonal therapy, or not using any hormonal therapy before surgery. And what those have shown is that indeed there is no benefit, therefore it is not part of the standard of care. There could be clinical trials in which this question is being addressed and perhaps you're being asked to participate, but that's a different matter. So that is why you need to understand and discuss with your physicians the reasons that would be behind such an offer.