Post-docetaxel therapy in castration resistant prostate cancer – the forest is growing in the desert

In Europe, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men with 382.000 new cases and 89.000 deaths annually. Historically, androgen deprivation therapy and docetaxel based chemotherapy were the only treatments able to improve survival. Two studies have been published during last few months regarding the management of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) progressed after docetaxel: for the first time second line therapies have been demonstrated to improve prognosis of these patients. The relevance of these trials is the reintroduction of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy in a disease once considered chemotherapy and castration resistant. All these data may change the traditional approach to CRPC but no evidences have came out from recently closed or ongoing clinical trials about the therapeutic algorithm. How to get oriented in this forest? We propose that patient's conditions, response and toxicities reported with previous treatments and, above all, dynamics and evolution of disease may influence the choice of subsequent therapies in docetaxel progressed CRPC. © 2012, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.