How a Veterans Affairs study can help guide prostate cancer treatment
A nationwide Veterans Affairs (VA) study comparing two leading treatments for metastatic prostate cancer may help doctors choose the right drug for each patient, said a Rutgers Cancer Institute physician-scientist whose invited editorial accompanies the research.
A nationwide Veterans Affairs (VA) study comparing enzalutamide and abiraterone, two hormone therapies for metastatic prostate cancer, has been published in JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics. The research, led by Wadih Arap, a physician-scientist at Rutgers Cancer Institute, provides some of the strongest real-world evidence to date comparing the two drugs.
While both treatments yielded similar overall survival, enzalutamide may offer a modest survival advantage for patients aged 75 and older. The study analyzed records of 5,135 veterans treated between 2020 and 2023. Enzalutamide does not require the concurrent administration of steroids, unlike abiraterone, which can carry additional health risks for certain patients.
The VA's extensive electronic health records provided a valuable resource for this large-scale study, helping to inform individualized treatment decisions for patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
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