← All guides

What is ADT? Hormone therapy for prostate cancer and its side effects

Reviewed October 2026

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), often called hormone therapy, lowers testosterone or blocks its effects. Prostate cancer cells usually need testosterone to grow, so lowering it slows or shrinks the cancer.

When is ADT used?

• Short course with radiotherapy, usually somewhere between a few months and around three years, for higher-risk cancer that hasn’t spread.
• Long-term, for cancer that has come back or spread. It is sometimes combined with newer tablets (androgen receptor pathway inhibitors).

ADT comes as injections or implants (such as leuprorelin/Lupron, goserelin/Zoladex or degarelix) or as a daily tablet (relugolix). Your team will explain which one you’re on and why.

Common side effects

Lower testosterone affects the whole body. Not everyone gets every effect, and many can be helped.

• Hot flushes and night sweats: affect up to 80% of men on ADT (MANCAN trial).
• Fatigue, lower energy and changes in mood or concentration.
• Muscle loss and fat gain, especially around the belly.
• Bone thinning, which raises fracture risk over time.
• Changes to cholesterol, blood sugar and heart risk.
• Lower sex drive and erection problems.

What helps

• Exercise is the best-studied tool. Randomised trials, many run in Australia, show resistance plus aerobic exercise increases muscle, strength and function and reduces fatigue in men on ADT (Galvão et al. 2010; Taaffe et al. 2017). See Exercise on ADT.
• Hot flush strategies, including CBT-based self-help. See Hot flushes on ADT.
• Regular health checks for bones, heart and metabolism. See Bone health on ADT.

When to contact your team

Contact your team promptly about new bone or back pain, especially with leg weakness or numbness, chest pain, breathlessness, or persistent low mood. In an emergency call your local emergency number.