Currents--University of Rochester

January 10
2000

Contents

In Brief

Currents--University of Rochester newspaper

Treat prostate cancer early, study says

M en who have prostate cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes are five times less likely to die of the disease if they start hormonal treatment immediately after radical prostatectomy than if such treatment is started only after the disease recurs, says a study in the December 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. For patients with advanced prostate cancer, doctors employ therapies that stop testosterone from stimulating the cancer cells. But when to administer these therapies has been a controversy since the 1970s when the Veterans Administration Cooperative Urological Research Group stated that early treatment didn't prolong survival.

"It's been the general dogma that hormonal therapy could be safely withheld until the disease was visibly recurring," explained Edward Messing, lead author of the study and chair of the Department of Urology and deputy director of the Cancer Center. "Our study shows something very different. Early treatment meant a significant improvement in survival for our patients."

Unlike previous studies, 80 percent of the men enrolled showed no detectable sign of any cancer recurring after the surgery, giving researchers an excellent starting point from which to compare the men later. Other studies have used patients having much larger amounts of cancer and often studied the combined effects of drugs and radiation.

Messing and his colleagues in the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group divided into two groups 98 men who underwent radical prostatectomies and whose cancer had spread to their pelvic lymph nodes. One group was given the choice of having their testicles removed or receiving regular injections that inhibited the secretion of testosterone. The men in the other group were kept under observation until there were definite signs of the cancer recurring, then they were also given similar hormonal treatment.

After more than seven years, 41 of the 51 men in the delayed-treatment group experienced a recurrence of cancer, while only seven of the 47 men immediately given therapy showed similar signs. In addition, 18 men in the delayed-treatment group died by the end of the study, 16 from prostate cancer. In the early-treated group only seven men died, three from prostate cancer.

Maintained by University Public Relations
Please send your comments and suggestions to:
Public Relations.


	SEARCH: Directory \| Index \| Contact \| Calendar \| News \| Giving