Hypogonadism is more common than expected in men about to undergo prostate brachytherapy, independent of age and degree of erectile dysfunction

Purpose: Androgen blockade (AB) is used frequently with prostate brachytherapy (PB) to shrink glands or for high risk disease. Recovery of testosterone to normal levels may not occur, especially if unsuspected hypogonadism is already present. We sought to assess the baseline pretreatment level of total testosterone (T) and erectile dysfunction (ED) in all patients (pts) treated for newly diagnosed prostate cancer (PC) in order to better deal with treatment-related issues later.