A Pilot retrospective analysis of alpha-blockers on recurrence in men with localised prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy

While alpha-blockers are commonly used to reduce lower urinary tract symptoms in prostate cancer patients receiving radiotherapy, their impact on response to radiotherapy remains unknown. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to retrospectively determine if alpha-blockers use, influenced response to radiotherapy for localised prostate cancer. In total, 303 prostate cancer patients were included, consisting of 84 control (alpha-blocker naïve), 72 tamsulosin and 147 prazosin patients. The main outcomes measured were relapse rates (%), time to biochemical relapse (months) and PSA velocity (ng/mL/year). Recurrence free survival was calculated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Prazosin significantly reduced biochemical relapse at both two and five-years (2.72%, 8.84%) compared to control (22.61%, 34.52%). Recurrence free survival was also significantly higher in the prazosin group. This remained after multivariable analysis (HR: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.04–0.26, p < 0.001). Patients receiving prazosin had a 3.9 times lower relative risk of biochemical relapse compared to control. Although not statistically significant, tamsulosin and prazosin extended recurrence free survival by 13.15 and 9.21 months respectively. We show for the first time that prazosin may reduce risk of prostate cancer recurrence and delay time to biochemical relapse and provides justification for prospective studies to examine its potential as an adjunct treatment option for localised prostate cancer.