Effective suppression of testosterone: the best castration therapy for hormone-sensitive prostate cancer?

Androgen suppression strategy has become the key treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Historically, testosterone level below 1.73 nmol/l (50 ng/dl) was regarded as the castrate level. The current data shows that in an attempt to improve the therapeutic outcome, the new target for chemical castration is testosterone level below 0.69 nmol/l (20 ng/dl). Testosterone surges and suboptimal castrate level due to LHRH analogue therapy result in a porrer control for prostate cancer. Obese men have higher levels of testosterone during treatment with LHRH analogues than patients with a normal body mass index. The study of androgen ablation consists in identifying those agents which would allow to achieve and maintain the lowest possible levels of testosterone