Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g7rbq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T23:39:18.725Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Cost-Effectiveness Comparison of Estrogen Therapy and Orchidectomy in Patients With Prostatic Cancer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Peter Henriksson
Affiliation:
Karolinska Institute, Sweden
Olaf Edhag
Affiliation:
Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Abstract

This study compares the cost of antitumor therapy and adverse cardiovascular effects during the first year of treatment with either exogenous estrogens or orchidectomy of patients with prostatic cancer. We found that the higher costs for the orchidectomy patients were partially outweighed by the costs of treating cardiovascular complications in the estrogen-treated patients; the net overcost of orchidectomy is balanced after two and a half years by the ongoing costs of estrogen treatment. The fact that 25% of the patients treated with estrogen suffered cardiovascular complications, but no difference in mortality rates between the two groups was observed, speaks in favor of orchidectomy as the preferred treatment for prostatic carcinoma.

Type
General Essays
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Bailar, S. C. III, & Byar, D. P.Estrogen treatment for cancer of the prostate. Early results with 3 doses of diethylstilbestrol and placebo. Cancer, 1970, 26, 257261.3.0.CO;2-9>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Hedlund, P. O., Gustafsson, H., & Sjögren, S.Cardiovascular complications to treatment of prostate cancer with estramustine phosphate (Estracyt) or conventional estrogen. Scandinavian Journal of Urology and Nephrology, 1980, 55 (Supplement), 103105.Google ScholarPubMed
3.Henriksson, P., & Edhag, O.Orchidectomy versus estrogen in patients with prostatic cancer: Cardiovascular effects. British Medical Journal, 1986, 293, 513515.Google ScholarPubMed
4.Huggins, C., & Hodges, D. V.Studies on prostatic cancer. I. The effect of castration, of estrogen and of androgen injection on serum phosphatases in metastatic carcinoma of the prostate. Cancer Research, 1941, 1, 293297.Google Scholar
5.Huggins, C., Scott, W. W., & Hodges, C. V.Studies on prostatic cancer. III. The effects of fever, of desoxycorticosterone and of estrogen on clinical patients with metastatic carcinoma of the prostate. Journal of Urology, 1941, 46, 9971006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Huggins, C., Stevens, R. E. Jr, & Hodges, C. V.Studies on prostatic cancer. II. The effects of castration in advanced carcinoma of the prostate gland. Archives of Surgery, 1941, 43, 209223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Jönsson, G., Olsson, A. M., Luttrop, W., Cekan, Z., Purvis, K., & Diczfalusy, E.Treatment of prostatic carcinoma with various types of estrogen derivatives. Vitamins and Hormones, 1975, 33, 351376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Torti, F. M.Hormonal therapy for prostatic cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 1984, 311, 13131314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Veterans Administration's Cooperative Urological Research Group. Carcinoma of the prostate: Treatment comparison. Journal of Urology, 1967, 98, 516522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Weinstein, M. C., & Stason, W. B.Foundations of cost-effectiveness analysis for health and medical practices. New England Journal of Medicine, 1977, 296, 716721.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed