Effect of Diabetes Mellitus and Metformin Usage on Treatment Outcomes and Side Effects on Prostate Cancer Treated with Radical Radiotherapy

Abstract

Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common comorbidity in patients with prostate cancer. Radiotherapy was reported to induce acute and late side effects in patients with DM due to vascular damage. Moreover, some studies have shown that metformin, an oral antidiabetic drug, can reduce biochemical and disease recurrence in patients with prostate cancer. This study aimed to evaluate retrospectively the effect of metformin on biochemical disease control and to observe the acute and late side effects of prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy.