[Combined hormone-chemotherapy for stage D2 prostatic cancer: starting time of chemotherapy in relation to hormone therapy].

We retrospectively analyzed 29 patients with stage D2 prostatic cancer who had been treated with chemotherapy at the urological clinic of Tokyo Medical and Dental University Hospital between 1983 and 1992 to evaluate the efficacy of chemotherapy for advanced prostatic cancer. The patients were divided into three groups according to the starting time of chemotherapy in relation to hormone therapy; 9 patients who received chemotherapy more than four weeks after the initial hormone therapy (group H), 9 patients who received chemotherapy only or in combination with the hormone therapy more than four weeks previously (group C), and 11 patients in whom both therapies were started within four weeks (group HC). Follow-up period ranged from four to 108 months averaging 35. Combination chemotherapy including cisplatin was administered one to 17 times with the median of five. The five-year survival rates estimated by Kaplan-Meier method were 18% in group H, 28% in group C, and 78% in group HC, respectively (HC vs. C: p < 0.05, HC vs. H: p = 0.059). These findings indicate that a combination chemotherapy including cisplatin may improve the prognosis of patients with advanced prostatic cancer when it is started with the initial hormone therapy simultaneously.