treatment of hormone resistance with docetaxel in metastatic prostate cancer patients: results of a clinical experience at omid hospital, isfahan, iran

background: metastatic prostate cancer is one of the most important cancers among men worldwide. androgen ablation therapy can be used in treatment of these patients; however, most will progress to metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer. in this regard, docetaxel has been approved to treat metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer in the united states. in this study, we aimed to investigate the results of this treatment modality in metastatic prostate cancer patients from iran. methods: we evaluated psa response and bone pain relief in 18 metastatic prostate cancer patients who underwent treatment with docetaxel at a dose of 75 mg/m2 intravenously on the first day of treatment. the treatment was repeated every three weeks (6 cycles) along with 10 mg of prednisolone. results: of 18 patients, 39% had >50% decline in psa levels.there were 16% of the patients with a psa decline of approximately 30% to 50% of the pre-treatment levels. in addition, 29% of the patients had progressive psa levels during chemotherapy. among them, 55% had significant pain relief. conclusion: this research showed the effectiveness of docetaxel to decrease psa levels in metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer patients from iran. docetaxel was also valuable in alleviation of pain in these patients. however, prospective studies should validate this approach.