Treatment of Hormone Resistance with Docetaxel in Metastatic Prostate Cancer Patients: Results of a Clinical Experience at Omid Hospital, Isfahan, Iran

Metastatic prostate cancer is one of the most important cancers among men worldwide. Androgen ablation therapy can be used in treatment of these patients; however, most will progress to metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer. In this regard, docetaxel has been approved to treat metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer in the United States. In this study, we aimed to investigate the results of this treatment modality in metastatic prostate cancer patients from Iran.
We evaluated PSA response and bone pain relief in 18 metastatic prostate cancer patients who underwent treatment with docetaxel at a dose of 75 mg/m2 intravenously on the first day of treatment. The treatment was repeated every three weeks (6 cycles) along with 10 mg of prednisolone.
Of 18 patients, 39% had >50% decline in PSA levels.There were 16% of the patients with a PSA decline of approximately 30% to 50% of the pre-treatment levels. In addition, 29% of the patients had progressive PSA levels during chemotherapy. Among them, 55% had significant pain relief.
This research showed the effectiveness of docetaxel to decrease PSA levels in metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer patients from Iran. Docetaxel was also valuable in alleviation of pain in these patients. However, prospective studies should validate this approach.