Background In September 2011, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the use of abiraterone for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in men whose disease had progressed on docetaxel-based chemotherapy.

Purpose To assess the effectiveness and safety of abiraterone for metastatic prostate cancer in clinical practice in a tertiary hospital.

Materials and methods A retrospective longitudinal study was performed in patients who started treatment with abiraterone for metastatic prostate cancer during the study period (March 2012–March 2013). Patients were followed up for 6 months. Variables, collected from medical records, were: age, ECOG performance status, date of diagnosis, type of metastasis, the start and end date of treatment with abiraterone, prior chemotherapy, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) at the start of treatment and one month later. We recorded possible adverse events (AE) associated with abiraterone and their severity.

Results 18 patients were included. The median (p25, p75) age was 76.8 (39.2, 82.3) years old. 22.2% of them had an ECOG ≥ 2. The median time since cancer diagnosis was 7.0 (4.5, 8.1) years. 100% of patients had at least bone metastases and the disease had progressed on chemical castration and docetaxel in all of them. The median PSA at initiation of treatment with abiraterone was 86.5 (24.9, 321.5) mcg/l. One month after starting treatment, PSA had decreased in 61.1% of patients. 57.9% of patients were in treatment with abiraterone after 6 months from the beginning. 44.4% of patients experienced AE. However, all of them were mild; the most frequent AE were related to gastrointestinal and skin systems.

Conclusions Abiraterone was effective in 57.9% of docetaxel-experienced patients in the sixth month of treatment. In study 302, the percentage was higher (70%). However, in that study the ECOG was lower than in our patients. We did not find any moderate-severe AE related to this drug.

No conflict of interest.