Androgen Deprivation Therapy for Prostate Cancer May Harm Kidneys

A new study shows that men with prostate cancer who undergo hormone therapy may be at an increased risk for acute kidney injuries.

According to a study involving men that underwent androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), results showed that this more than doubled the odds that patients would get an acute kidney injury (ACT) compared to those who did not undergo ADT treatments.

To examine this theory, study authors looked at the U.K. Clinical Practice Research Datalink that connected national hospital databases and identified all men with newly diagnosed nonmetastatic prostate cancer from 1997 through 2008, followed through Dec. 31, 2009.  The study shows that prostate cancer patients who developed acute kidney injury were matched with as many as 20 patients without acute kidney injury.

The group of patients who developed ACT consisted of 40 men who had never received ADT, 168 men on current treatment and 24 men treated in the past for the problem. The control group also showed that 30 percent of men did not have ADT, 52 percent were currently receiving the treatments and 16 percent had received treatment in the past.

ADT treatments counted for 36 percent of cases who had received GnRH treatment.

"This association remained continuously elevated, with the highest [odds ratio] observed in the first year of treatment," the authors said, via the study. "Overall, these results remained consistent after conducting several sensitivity analyses."

Researchers hope that the study results could potentially change ADT's role as a mainstay therapy that often helps to treat prostate cancer in later stages.

More information regarding the article can be found online in JAMA.