ABSTRACT
Prostatic cancer is by far the most common hormone-sensitive tumor in men, and as such has great potential for exploration and exploitation of hormonal and chemotherapeutic attack. The prostate gland has emerged as one of the weak links in aging populations. Management of advanced disease was entirely symptomatic. In 1939, C. Huggins developed a technique for chronic measurement of prostatic secretion in dogs and showed that this was suppressed by exogenous estrogens or castration, an effect which could be reversed with replacement testosterone. Solid tumors pass through a series of initially unseen phases which eventually determine the outcome of treatment. To a considerable extent, the first site of relapse or perceived pattern of metastases depends on the sensitivity of the particular methods used to search for them. The early treatment of metastatic disease with combinations of hormones and chemotherapy is starting to receive increasing attention in clinical trials.
