Validation of a testosterone-deficiency symptoms rating-scale in prostate cancer patients treated with androgen deprivation therapy and radiotherapy.

63 Background: Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) plays an important role in the management of non-metastatic prostate cancer (NMPC). We prospectively assessed the performance of a symptom rating scale, the aging men’s symptoms score (AMS) in relation to other validated QOL tools. Methods: Following ethics approval, 145 patients with a diagnosis of NMPC receiving ADT as part of radical treatment were enrolled after informed consent. Data was collected using the EORTC QLQ-C30, the AMS and the International Index of Erectile Function score (IIEF-5) questionnaires at baseline, 3 months (post ADT) and after ADT was stopped. Results: Eighty six (58.1%) patients had ADT for <9 months, 7 (4.7%) had 9 -18 months and 55 (37.2%) had 27-36 months. A third (32.3%) of patients had moderate/severe symptoms of testosterone deficiency (TD) at baseline vs 62% and 44.4% at time points 2 & 3 (p<0.0001). Severe erectile dysfunction was common and worsened with ADT (45.3% & 74.1% respectively) and did not recover post ADT (p<0.0001). Few (1.6%) patients retained normal erectile function at the end of the study vs 15.6% at baseline. Self-reported QoL using EORTC QLQ C30 (Q.30) remained high at all time points (80.8%, 76.2%,75.8% respectively for a score of 5-7, 7 =very good, 1=very poor). Conclusions: TD due to ADT resulted in significant symptoms only in a subset of patients and not all symptoms resolved post ADT. However, self-reported QoL remained unaffected indicating that andropause symptoms may not affect QoL in radically treated prostate patients. This prospective data validates AMS scale and it could be used in routine clinical practice to assess TD symptoms in this group. [Table: see text]