M.D. Recent research from Varese, Italy shows that prostate cancer that has spread to the body can be treated first with withdrawal of testosterone and then by adding back testosterone. Once prostate cancer has spread to other parts of the body, it is very difficult to treat.
First doctors try to remove testosterone, which usually shrinks the cancer for a year or two.
Then lack of testosterone can spread prostate cancer further. This research shows that when prostate cancer spreads after testosterone withdrawal, the spread cancer may regress when the patient is given testosterone again. This is early research. Nobody knows when or if the doctor should give back testosterone to the patient. For now, doctors block testosterone only after prostate cancer has spread to other places in the body.