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Testosterone replacement for fatigue in hypogonadal ambulatory males with advanced cancer: a preliminary double-blind placebo-controlled trial

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Abstract

Background

Uncontrolled studies show fatigue, anorexia, depression, and mortality are associated with low testosterone in men with cancer. Testosterone replacement improves quality of life and diminishes fatigue in patients with non-cancer conditions. The primary objective was to evaluate the effect of testosterone replacement on fatigue in hypogonadal males with advanced cancer, by the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue subscale (FACIT-Fatigue) at day 29.

Methods

This is a randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled trial. Outpatients with advanced cancer, bioavailable testosterone (BT) <70 ng/dL and fatigue score >3/10 on the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale were eligible. Intra-muscular testosterone or sesame seed oil placebo was administered every 14 days to achieve BT levels 70–270 ng/dL.

Results

Sixteen placebo and 13 testosterone-treated subjects were evaluable. No statistically significant difference was found for FACIT-fatigue scores between arms (−2 ± 12 for placebo, 4 ± 8 for testosterone, p = 0.11). Sexual Desire Inventory score (p = 0.054) and performance status (p = 0.02) improved in the testosterone group. Fatigue subscale scores were significantly better (p = 0.03) in those treated with testosterone by day 72.

Conclusions

Four weeks of intramuscular testosterone replacement in hypogonadal male patients with advanced cancer did not significantly improve quality of life. Larger studies of longer duration are warranted.

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Acknowledgments

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the American Cancer Society# PEP-08-299-01-PC1 to E. Del Fabbro.

E. Bruera is supported in part by a National Institutes of Health grant numbers RO1NR010162-01A1, RO1CA1222292.01, and RO1CA124481-01.

J. Garcia is supported in part by the Dept of Veterans Affairs MERIT grants (I01-BX000507 and I01 CX000174) and the NIA (T32AG000183 and AG040583).

D. Hui is supported in part by the Clinician Investigator Program, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Disclosure

The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Palliative Care and Rehabilitation Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    E. Del Fabbro, R. Dev, D. Hui, J. Williams, J. L. Palmer, L. Schover & E. Bruera

  2. Michael De Bakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    J. M. Garcia & D. Engineer

  3. Division of Hematology/Oncology and Palliative Care, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1101 East Marshall Street, Richmond, VA, 23298-0230, USA

    E. Del Fabbro

Authors
  1. E. Del Fabbro
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  2. J. M. Garcia
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  3. R. Dev
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  4. D. Hui
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  5. J. Williams
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  7. J. L. Palmer
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  8. L. Schover
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  9. E. Bruera
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. Del Fabbro.

Additional information

E. Del Fabbro and J.M Garcia contributed equally to this work.

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Del Fabbro, E., Garcia, J.M., Dev, R. et al. Testosterone replacement for fatigue in hypogonadal ambulatory males with advanced cancer: a preliminary double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Support Care Cancer 21, 2599–2607 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-1832-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-013-1832-5

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