Prostate cancer: Optimizing finasteride chemoprevention

摘要

The 5a reductase inhibitor finasteride is an effective chemopreventative agent against prostate cancer. However, the use of finasteride in the general male population remains low, in part due to the cost of the drug, its associated adverse effects, and uncertainty surrounding which men will derive the most benefit from this agent. Writing in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Andrew Vickers and colleagues from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have addressed the optimum use of finasteride among men at risk of prostate cancer. "It isn't unreasonable for a man to ask 'Why should I take a pill today-and risk side effects-to avoid something far in the future that I might not even get?'" says Vickers. "We wondered whether we could use PSA to determine which men should be treated with finasteride."