Effect of androgen suppression compared with androgen receptor blockade on arterial stiffness in men with prostate cancer

Endogenous testosterone and estradiol are thought to be cardio-protective in men. We wanted to determine the effects of 2 different anti-androgen therapies on arterial stiffness as one suppresses (goserelin--a gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analog) while the other increases (bicalutamide--an androgen receptor blocker) both testosterone and estradiol. We conducted a randomized trial on 43 men (mean age, 71.2 +/- 6.2 years) with localized prostate cancer. They received either goserelin or bicalutamide for 24 weeks. Carotid-femoral (C-F) and carotid-radial (C-R) pulse wave velocities (PWVs) were measured. Twenty age- and disease-matched men with prostate cancer on no active treatment were studied in a similar manner. After 12 weeks of goserelin, radial artery PWV increased significantly from baseline and a nonsignificant increase was observed in femoral PWV (change from baseline radial: +1.4 m/s, P = .002, femoral: +0.9 m/s, P = .127) Both PWV measures increased significantly with bicalutamide (change from baseline radial: +0.8, femoral: +0.9 m/s, P or= .967 at 12 weeks and P >or= .07 at 24 weeks). The untreated men studied in parallel showed no changes at 12 or 24 weeks in either PWV measure. Anti-androgen treatment in men might increase large artery stiffness, an adverse cardiovascular risk factor; however, the effect was not maintained with testosterone receptor blockade, in the longer term, but tended to be sustained with suppression therapy. This could relate to the different sex hormone effects of the 2 therapies.