Health and Prostate

Leuprolide generally is well tolerated and usual dosages (i.e., 1 mg daily) have been associated with fewer adverse systemic effects than usual dosages (i.e., 3 mg daily) of diethylstilbestrol (DES) (no longer commercially available in the US). The most frequent adverse effects associated with leuprolide therapy are hot flushes in males and females and amenorrhea in females. (See Cautions: Endocrine Effects.) These and other effects secondary to hypoestrogenism are the predominant adverse effects observed in females receiving the drug. The safety profiles of the injection and suspension dosage forms of the drug appear to be similar. A worsening (flare) of signs and/or symptoms of hormone-dependent disease (e.g., endometriosis, prostatic carcinoma) has occasionally occurred during the initial 1-2 weeks of leuprolide therapy (secondary to the initial leuprolide-induced stimulation of pituitary release of gonadotropins and resultant ovarian and testicular steroidogenesis) and then subsided during continued therapy. In males with prostate cancer, this transient exacerbation of signs and/or symptoms Read more [...]