{"entity":{"id":"adt","kind":"term","name":"Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT)","aka":["ADT","androgen deprivation","androgen-deprivation","androgen suppression","hormone therapy","castration","medical castration","chemical castration","castrate levels","GnRH agonist","GnRH antagonist","LHRH agonist","testosterone suppression","short-term ADT","long-term ADT","intermittent ADT","GnRH agonists","hormone therapy for prostate cancer"],"tldr":"Switching off testosterone, the hormone that feeds prostate cancer, with injections (or tablets) that stop the testicles making it, or by removing them. It has been the backbone of advanced prostate cancer treatment since 1941.","summary":"GnRH agonists (leuprolide, goserelin) and antagonists (degarelix, oral relugolix) lower testosterone to castrate levels; bilateral orchiectomy does the same permanently. ADT is combined with radiotherapy for intermediate- and high-risk localised disease (4-6 months to 2-3 years), and with ARPIs and sometimes docetaxel in metastatic hormone-sensitive disease. Side effects are hot flushes, fatigue, loss of muscle and bone, weight gain, sexual dysfunction and metabolic and cardiovascular risk, hence interest in intermittent schedules and in whether metastasis-directed therapy can postpone it. Endocrine therapy in breast cancer is the analogous concept for oestrogen.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_deprivation_therapy","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_deprivation_therapy"},{"label":"NICE NG131: prostate cancer, diagnosis and management","url":"https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng131/chapter/Recommendations"},{"label":"Prostate Cancer UK: how hormone therapy affects you","url":"https://prostatecanceruk.org/prostate-information-and-support/living-with-prostate-cancer/how-hormone-therapy-affects-you"},{"label":"Cancer Research UK: hormone therapy for prostate cancer","url":"https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/prostate-cancer/treatment/hormone-therapy"}],"tags":[],"related":["castration-resistance","arpi","orchiectomy","intermittent-androgen-deprivation"],"cancers":["prostate"],"sections":["hormonal"],"technologies":["androgen-deprivation"],"targets":[],"drugs":["leuprolide","degarelix"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["intermittent-androgen-deprivation","bipolar-androgen-therapy","other-cause-mortality"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Treatment jargon"},"route":"/terms/adt/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"arpi","kind":"term","name":"Androgen receptor pathway inhibitor (ARPI)","route":"/terms/arpi/"},{"id":"bipolar-androgen-therapy","kind":"term","name":"Bipolar androgen therapy (BAT)","route":"/terms/bipolar-androgen-therapy/"},{"id":"castration-resistance","kind":"term","name":"Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)","route":"/terms/castration-resistance/"},{"id":"disease-volume-chaarted","kind":"term","name":"Disease volume (CHAARTED high-volume versus low-volume) and LATITUDE risk","route":"/terms/disease-volume-chaarted/"},{"id":"gleason-grade-group","kind":"term","name":"Gleason score / Grade Group","route":"/terms/gleason-grade-group/"},{"id":"intermittent-androgen-deprivation","kind":"term","name":"Intermittent androgen deprivation (IAD)","route":"/terms/intermittent-androgen-deprivation/"},{"id":"mcrpc-mhspc","kind":"term","name":"mCRPC and mHSPC (castration-resistant vs hormone-sensitive prostate cancer)","route":"/terms/mcrpc-mhspc/"},{"id":"orchiectomy","kind":"term","name":"Orchiectomy","route":"/terms/orchiectomy/"},{"id":"other-cause-mortality","kind":"term","name":"Other-cause mortality","route":"/terms/other-cause-mortality/"},{"id":"prostate-uk-drug-approvals","kind":"term","name":"Prostate cancer drugs in England: what NICE recommends, and what it refuses","route":"/terms/prostate-uk-drug-approvals/"},{"id":"prostatectomy","kind":"term","name":"Radical prostatectomy","route":"/terms/prostatectomy/"},{"id":"prostate-stampede-arms","kind":"term","name":"STAMPEDE's arms, and what each one answered","route":"/terms/prostate-stampede-arms/"},{"id":"prostate-adt-burden","kind":"term","name":"What androgen deprivation costs: the side of hormone therapy the survival curves do not show","route":"/terms/prostate-adt-burden/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"prostate-mhspc","kind":"cancer","name":"Metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer","route":"/cancers/prostate-mhspc/"},{"id":"prostate","kind":"cancer","name":"Prostate cancer","route":"/cancers/prostate/"}],"section":[{"id":"hormonal","kind":"section","name":"Hormonal Therapy","route":"/fronts/hormonal/"}],"technology":[{"id":"androgen-deprivation","kind":"technology","name":"Androgen deprivation & AR pathway inhibitors","route":"/technologies/androgen-deprivation/"}],"drug":[{"id":"degarelix","kind":"drug","name":"Degarelix","route":"/drugs/degarelix/"},{"id":"leuprolide","kind":"drug","name":"Leuprolide (leuprorelin) and GnRH agonists","route":"/drugs/leuprolide/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-gravis-getug-afu-15-docetaxel-lancet-oncol-2013","kind":"paper","name":"GETUG-AFU 15: androgen deprivation alone or with docetaxel in non-castrate metastatic prostate cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-gravis-getug-afu-15-docetaxel-lancet-oncol-2013/"},{"id":"paper-huggins-hodges-castration-serum-phosphatases-prostate-1941","kind":"paper","name":"Huggins and Hodges 1941: the effect of castration, of oestrogen and of androgen injection on serum phosphatases in metastatic carcinoma of the prostate","route":"/key-papers/paper-huggins-hodges-castration-serum-phosphatases-prostate-1941/"},{"id":"paper-visakorpi-androgen-receptor-amplification-nat-genet-1995","kind":"paper","name":"In vivo amplification of the androgen receptor gene and progression of human prostate cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-visakorpi-androgen-receptor-amplification-nat-genet-1995/"},{"id":"paper-chen-androgen-receptor-overexpression-antiandrogen-resistance-nat-med-2004","kind":"paper","name":"Molecular determinants of resistance to antiandrogen therapy","route":"/key-papers/paper-chen-androgen-receptor-overexpression-antiandrogen-resistance-nat-med-2004/"},{"id":"paper-vale-stopcap-docetaxel-bisphosphonates-lancet-oncol-2016","kind":"paper","name":"STOpCaP: docetaxel or bisphosphonates added to standard of care in hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, a systematic review and meta-analysis","route":"/key-papers/paper-vale-stopcap-docetaxel-bisphosphonates-lancet-oncol-2016/"},{"id":"paper-hussain-swog-9346-intermittent-androgen-deprivation-nejm-2013","kind":"paper","name":"SWOG 9346: intermittent versus continuous androgen deprivation in metastatic prostate cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-hussain-swog-9346-intermittent-androgen-deprivation-nejm-2013/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-prostate-other-cause-mortality-as-a-reported-service-outcome","kind":"idea","name":"Report death from other causes as an outcome of the prostate cancer service, split by deprivation and ethnicity","route":"/ideas/idea-prostate-other-cause-mortality-as-a-reported-service-outcome/"}],"trial":[{"id":"ascende-rt","kind":"trial","name":"ASCENDE-RT","route":"/trials/ascende-rt/"},{"id":"dart-01-05-gicor","kind":"trial","name":"DART 01/05 GICOR","route":"/trials/dart-01-05-gicor/"},{"id":"eortc-22863","kind":"trial","name":"EORTC 22863","route":"/trials/eortc-22863/"},{"id":"eortc-22961","kind":"trial","name":"EORTC 22961","route":"/trials/eortc-22961/"},{"id":"eortc-22991","kind":"trial","name":"EORTC 22991","route":"/trials/eortc-22991/"},{"id":"getug-afu-15","kind":"trial","name":"GETUG-AFU 15","route":"/trials/getug-afu-15/"},{"id":"getug-afu-16","kind":"trial","name":"GETUG-AFU 16","route":"/trials/getug-afu-16/"},{"id":"hero","kind":"trial","name":"HERO","route":"/trials/hero/"},{"id":"keynote-991","kind":"trial","name":"KEYNOTE-991","route":"/trials/keynote-991/"},{"id":"rtog-0521","kind":"trial","name":"NRG Oncology RTOG 0521","route":"/trials/rtog-0521/"},{"id":"patch-transdermal-oestradiol","kind":"trial","name":"PATCH (Prostate Adenocarcinoma Transcutaneous Hormone)","route":"/trials/patch-transdermal-oestradiol/"},{"id":"radicals-hd","kind":"trial","name":"RADICALS-HD","route":"/trials/radicals-hd/"},{"id":"rtog-9202","kind":"trial","name":"RTOG 92-02","route":"/trials/rtog-9202/"},{"id":"rtog-9408","kind":"trial","name":"RTOG 94-08","route":"/trials/rtog-9408/"},{"id":"spcg-7","kind":"trial","name":"SPCG-7/SFUO-3","route":"/trials/spcg-7/"},{"id":"stomp-oligorecurrence","kind":"trial","name":"STOMP","route":"/trials/stomp-oligorecurrence/"},{"id":"swog-9346","kind":"trial","name":"SWOG 9346 (intermittent androgen deprivation)","route":"/trials/swog-9346/"}],"biomarker":[{"id":"ar-amplification","kind":"biomarker","name":"AR amplification (gene and upstream enhancer)","route":"/biomarkers/ar-amplification/"}]}}