usage, effectiveness and safety of abiraterone in prostate cancer

Background and objective: After the marketing of Abiraterone, an androgen synthesis inhibitor, the aim of the study was to analyze its use, response, and safety in the population of a tertiary care level hospital. Materials and methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out including all patients that were started on Abiraterone within a 21-month period. Demographical, diagnostic, therapeutic, and clinical variables were gathered. The response was assessed through the decreased of PSA as compared to baseline values. To assess the safety, all treatment-related adverse events were recorded. Results: A total of 45 patients were included of which 88.89% could be assessed for the drug effectiveness. The median baseline PSA value was 457.31 (range 9032-2.81). PSA decrease was ≥50%, ≥90% and < 30% in 16 (40%), 3 (7.5%) y 20 (50%), respectively. The most common grade 1-2 adverse events were fatigue (35.6%), increased liver enzymes (28.9%), hipokalemia (13.3%) and fluid retention (11.1%). Conclusions: Abiraterone was a well tolerated drug that has shown to be active in prostate cancer patients previously treated with taxans, so it has been postulated as an alternative in this pathology.