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To test the feasibility of using intermittent androgen suppression in the treatment of prostate cancer by taking advantage of the reversible action of medical castration.

Observations were made on a group of 47 patients (clinical Stage D2, 14; D1, 10; C, 19; B2, 2; and A2, 2) with a mean follow-up time of 125 weeks. Treatment was initiated with combined androgen blockade and continued for at least 6 months until a serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) nadir was observed. Medication was then withheld until the serum PSA increased to a mean value between 10 and 20 ng/mL. This cycle of treatment and no treatment was repeated until the regulation of serum PSA became androgen independent.

The first two treatment cycles lasted 73 and 75 weeks, with a mean time off therapy of 30 and 33 weeks and an overall mean percentage time off therapy of 41% and 45%, respectively …