Hormone therapy for prostate cancer
Hormone therapy is a possible treatment for prostate cancer that hasn't spread. Sometimes it is also called anti hormone therapy.
This page is about hormone therapy for prostate cancer that has not spread to other parts of the body. This is called early prostate cancer. You might have hormone therapy with . This aims to cure early prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer that has spread is called metastatic prostate cancer. We have separate information about hormone therapy for metastatic prostate cancer.
Find out more about hormone therapy for metastatic prostate cancer
are natural substances made in our bodies. They control the growth and activity of normal cells. Testosterone is a male hormone mainly made by the testicles.
Prostate cancer usually depends on testosterone to grow. Hormone therapy blocks or lowers the amount of testosterone in the body.
Hormone therapy on its own doesn't cure prostate cancer. But with other treatments, it can lower the risk of an early prostate cancer coming back.
Hormone therapy is also a treatment for prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. This is metastatic or advanced prostate cancer.
You might have hormone therapy with radiotherapy. This aims to cure prostate cancer. This is usually for prostate cancer that:
hasn’t spread outside the prostate gland - this is localised prostate cancer
has spread into the tissues around the prostate gland - this is locally advanced prostate cancer
Doctors in the UK recommend the best treatment, depending on your prognostic group. They may use a system called the Cambridge Prognostic Group (CPG).
Read about the Cambridge Prognostic Groups
Your doctor might recommend you have hormone therapy together with radiotherapy if you have a CPG 2, 3, 4 and 5 prostate cancer. And if your cancer hasn't spread to another part of your body.
You might have hormone therapy before, during and after radiotherapy:
Hormone therapy before radiotherapy is also called neo adjuvant therapy.
Hormone therapy after radiotherapy is called adjuvant therapy.
Doctors usually recommend that you have the treatment for between 4 months and 3 years. How long you have treatment depends on the risk of your cancer coming back. And how many side effects you get.
Hormone therapy alone doesn’t cure prostate cancer. Your doctor might recommend hormone treatment alone if:
the cancer is too advanced to have treatment with the aim to cure it
you can’t have surgery or radiotherapy because of other health problems
you don’t want to have radiotherapy or surgery
You usually have hormone therapy for as long as it is working. Or your doctor might suggest you have intermittent hormone therapy. This is when you have breaks from treatment and have blood tests every 3 months to check your . You restart treatment again if your PSA rises above a certain level.
Hormone therapy is a treatment if cancer comes back after radiotherapy or surgery. This is recurrent prostate cancer.
Find out more about treatment options if your prostate cancer comes back
Hormone therapy is also a treatment for metastatic prostate cancer. You might have it with such as docetaxel. You may also have some hormone therapies such as abiraterone with:
steroids called prednisolone
other types of hormone therapies such as enzalutamide and apalutamide
Find out more about treatment for metastatic prostate cancer
There are 2 main ways of having hormone therapy. They are:
injections
tablets
The injections work by blocking messages from a gland in the brain. These messages tell the testicles to produce testosterone.
You usually have these injections at your GP surgery.
A gland in the brain called the makes the luteinising hormone (LH). This controls the amount of testosterone made by the testicles. LH blockers stop the production of luteinising hormone. So the testicles stop making testosterone.
At first, the injections may make your symptoms worse. This is called tumour flare. Your doctor might recommend you take an anti androgen tablet to stop the tumour flare. For example, bicalutamide. You usually take bicalutamide for the first 4 to 6 weeks of your hormone treatment.
Types of LH blockers include:
leuprorelin (Prostap) – you have this every 4 weeks or 12 week
goserelin acetate (Zoladex) – you have this every 4 weeks or 12 weeks
buserelin (Suprefact) – you have this as an injection 3 times a day for 7 days and then a nasal spray 6 times a day
triptorelin (Decapeptyl) – you have this once a month, 3 monthly or 6 monthly
This is another type of hormone injection. It stops messages from a part of the brain called the hypothalamus that tells the pituitary gland to produce luteinising hormone. Luteinising hormone tells the testicles to produce testosterone. So GnRH blockers stop the testicles making testosterone.
Your doctor may suggest you have a GnRH blocker called degarelix (Firmagon). You have this every 4 weeks.
Hormone therapy tablets are usually anti-androgen tablets.
Prostate cancer cells have areas called . Testosterone attaches to these receptors. It can encourage cancer cells to divide and grow.
Anti androgen drugs work by attaching themselves to these receptors. This stops testosterone from reaching the prostate cancer cells. Examples of anti androgens for prostate cancer that hasn't spread include:
bicalutamide (Casodex) – you take it once a day
flutamide (Drogenil) – you take it 3 times a day
cyproterone acetate (Cyprostat) – you take 1 to 3 times a day
Relugolix is a new type of GnRH blocker that stops the testicles making testosterone. Unlike other GnRH blockers, you can take it as a tablet.
Check what is the name of the hormone treatment with your doctor or nurse, then take a look at our A to Z list of cancer drugs.
Go to the A to Z list of cancer drugs
Surgery to remove your testicles is a type of hormone therapy for prostate cancer. But it is not a common treatment. You're more likely to have injections or tablets to reduce the level of testosterone in your blood.
The testicles produce testosterone, which can help prostate cancer grow. So removing the testicles can help to control the growth of prostate cancer. After this surgery, the level of testosterone in the blood falls quickly.
Your doctors might suggest surgery as an option if you don't want to have injections or tablets.
Read more about this operation
You have regular blood tests to check the level of . Both normal and cancerous prostate cells make PSA. All men have a small amount of PSA in their blood, unless you had surgery to completely remove your prostate gland.
You may have some scans during your treatment. These include scans such as a , and . Your doctor will also ask you about any symptoms you have such as bone pain.
While the hormone therapy is working, your PSA level should stay stable. Or it may go down. But if prostate cancer starts to grow and develop, your PSA level may go up. This is usually called either:
hormone resistant prostate cancer
castration resistant prostate cancer
If this happens, your doctor may need to change your treatment. They will discuss this with you.
Side effects of hormone therapy are due to the low levels of testosterone in your body. Many men find that the side effects are often worse at the start of treatment. They usually settle down after a few weeks or months.
Some side effects are common to all hormone therapies for prostate cancer. Others vary from drug to drug. You might not have all of these side effects. Talk to your doctor or nurse about any side effects you have. They can often suggest ways of reducing the side effects and make you feel better.
The main side effects are:
changes to your sex life such as difficulty getting an erection and less desire for sex (low libido)
hot flushes and sweating
feeling tired and weak
breast tenderness and swelling
tumour flare
Side effects of long term treatment are:
weight gain
loss of muscle strength
memory problems
mood swings and depression
bone thinning (osteoporosis)
risk of heart problems and diabetes
Last reviewed: 04 Jul 2025
Next review due: 04 Jul 2028
Hormone therapy for prostate cancer can affect the levels of your hormones. This can cause different side effects including hot flushes, swollen breasts, sleep disturbances and weight changes.
You may have a choice of treatments such as surgery or radiotherapy. Or your doctor might suggest that they monitor your cancer instead of treatment straight away.
Metastatic prostate cancer has spread to other parts of your body. Treatment options include chemotherapy and hormone therapy.
The PSA test is a blood test that measures the amount of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in your blood. It can help to diagnose prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is cancer that starts in the prostate gland. The prostate gland is found at the base of the bladder and is about the size of a walnut.
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