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Mar. 12, 2002 |
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Browse Archives by cancer site n Lung n Breast n General n Prostate n Leukemia n Lymphoma n Colon n News/Issues |
Longer survival with radiation and hormone therapy by Michael O'Leary GRENOBLE -- July 12, 2002 -- Men with advanced prostate cancer may live twice as long when treated with hormone therapy in conjunction with radiation compared to men treated with radiation alone, according to an update from an ongoing clinical trial. Researchers from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), led by Dr. Michel Bolla, of Grenoble, France, published earlier reports of the study in 1996 and 1997. The current report updates their findings, and strengthens their results. The study appears in the July 13, 2002 issue of The Lancet. "Androgen suppression provides a means of improving the outcome of external irradiation alone, by possibly eliminating occult (hidden) disease," Bolla said in a prepared statement. "Moreover androgen suppression and external irradiation appear to have an additive effect on local disease control by inducing apoptosis [tumour-cell death]." The long-running trial enrolled 415 men under 80 years old with advanced prostate cancer between 1987 and 1995, and randomly assigned them to treatment with either external radiation alone (208) or with radiation and hormone treatment given during and for three years after the radiation (207). The researchers measured PSA two months after the end of external irradiation, then every 3 months for 3 years, and every 6 months thereafter. After following the men for an average of 5.5 years 74% of the men in the combination therapy remained disease-free compared to only 40% of the men in the radiation alone group. Overall, 78% of the men in the combination therapy group survived 5 years compared to 62% of the men in the radiation only group. Side effects of the hormone treatment include hot flushes, fatigue and sexual dysfunction. Side effects of radiation include nausea, vomiting and bowel dysfunction. Although they concluded that immediate hormone suppression during and for three years after radiation improves disease-free and overall survival, the study was not designed to determine the optimum length of time the hormone treatments are needed after radiation. The researchers said that the side effects may be reduced if the hormone treatment can be given for a shorter period of time. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer, excluding skin cancers, in American men. The American Cancer Society estimates that during 2002 about 189,000 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. One man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, but only 1 man in 32 will die of this disease. SOURCE: The Lancet (Vol. 360: 103-108). |
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