section name header

Evidence summaries

Combination of Nilutamide Plus Orchidectomy in Metastatic Prostatic Cancer

The combination of nilutamide and orchidectomy improves response rate and slows disease progression compared to orchidectomy alone in patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Level of evidence: "B"

A systematic review 1 included 7 RCTs with a total of 1,056 subjects. Odds ratio for progression of the disease with nilutamide plus orchidectomy compared with orchidectomy plus placebo was 0.84 (95% CI 0.71 to 1.00). OR for death of due to prostate cancer was 0.90 (95% CI 0.74 to 1.09). 48% of patients in the combination therapy group compared to 34% in orchidectomy group reported improvement in metastatic-related bone pain (p<0.001). In the combination therapy group the disease progressed in 21% as compared to 33% in the orchidectomy group in 6 months (p<0.001).

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by sparse data.

    References

    • Bertagna C, De Géry A, Hucher M, François JP, Zanirato J. Efficacy of the combination of nilutamide plus orchidectomy in patients with metastatic prostatic cancer. A meta-analysis of seven randomized double-blind trials (1056 patients). Br J Urol 1994 Apr;73(4):396-402. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords