Intravenous therapies for castration-resistant prostate cancer: toxicities and adverse events

Abstract

Prostate cancer (CaP) continues to be a significant burden on men's health. While significant advances have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of localized disease, androgen deprivation therapy remains the treatment of choice for advanced and metastatic disease. However, once a man progresses on androgen deprivation, therapies targeting castration-resistant CaP have been extremely limited until quite recently. Urologic oncologists who wish to play an active role in the treatment of men with CaP from diagnosis through end-of-life care should be familiar with administration of and toxicities associated with chemotherapeutic agents. This review is directed at urologists and urologic oncologists and will discuss many of the FDA-approved intravenous agents currently available for castration-resistant CaP with a specific focus on the side-effects associated with these regimens.