Combined androgen blockade in advanced prostate cancer: looking back to move forward.

In 1989, Crawford and colleagues suggested that combined androgen blockade with castration plus antiandrogen therapy provided significantly improved survival compared with castration alone. Since then, some studies have supported these results, whereas others have not. To resolve this discrepancy, the Prostate Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group conducted a metaanalysis of 27 randomized trials to evaluate whether combined androgen blockade has benefits compared with castration alone.