The Doctor José Molina Orosa Hospital in Lanzarote and the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital, in Tenerife, are participating in a study on prostate cancer promoted by the pharmaceutical company Janssen, which is being carried out in 47 hospitals throughout the country and in which approximately 600 patients with prostate tumors will be observed.
"This involves assessing a specific group of patients with prostate cancer with the main objective of retrospectively describing the (non-pharmacological) management of patients during the 15 months prior to their entry into the study, as well as the prevalence of this type of cancer on the island to extrapolate it to the values of the rest of the country," explain from the Ministry of Health.
Prostate cancer is one of the most frequent malignant tumors in older men. After initial surgical or radiation therapy treatment, this type of tumor can advance in certain patients, so since the 1980s they have been treated with hormone therapy (ADT) that prevents the production of testosterone and causes prostate cancer cells to die or grow more slowly. A significant percentage of these patients respond well and manage to maintain a good quality of life for years.
However, in some others, the disease continues to progress despite the administration of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). These are the cases called castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), and among that group of patients, the study will focus on assessing those who have not developed metastasis or whose metastatic state is unknown.
In Lanzarote, the study is led by Dr. Cathaysa Fumero, with the collaboration of Casandra Hernández, urologists at the Doctor Molina Orosa Hospital, and a total of 136 patients eligible to participate in the study will be observed.
According to Dr. Fumero, “from the moment a patient with this type of cancer develops metastasis, the treatment must be changed, that is why we are going to assess patients who are, we could say, in a period of uncertainty for us, in which we do not know if it is metastatic and the treatment should be changed or if we can continue with the one we have been administering until that moment.”
Sometimes, despite androgen deprivation treatment, the disease progresses and the tumor develops its own ways to obtain testosterone. “Precisely this study is aimed at that group of patients, whom until recently we contemplated without therapeutic attitude, which due to its dimensions could serve as a basis for subsequent trials and investigations,” specifies the specialist from Molina Orosa.
Currently, we are in the first phase of the study, recruiting patients who have been on hormone treatment in the last six months. Based on the data from each patient's medical history, the algorithm of the program provided by the company Janssen will determine if they meet the criteria to participate in the study.
The team of specialists that joins this study considers that in recent years there have been significant advances in the treatment of patients with prostate cancer that have helped to change the perception of the disease, and has mainly delved into advanced stages of the disease, which has improved the quality and life expectancy of these patients.