Determining Treatment for Prostate Cancer
Reported September 29, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — It may take more than a mans age to determine whether hormones should be used to treat his prostate cancer.
A new study from Fox Chase Cancer Center finds men over age 70 with high-risk prostate cancer lived longer and had increases in PSA less frequently when they were treated with long-term androgen deprivation therapy. The concern that the treatment may cause cardiovascular disease, especially in older patients at risk for the condition has led investigators to question hormone therapys role in older men.
Researchers looked at men with prostate cancer confined to the prostate that was still considered high-risk to see their outcomes with and without the use of hormone therapy. They wanted to know whether age should be a determining factor for treating patients with hormone suppression.
Results show taking hormone therapy for a longer period — more than 12 months — led to a greater overall survival for all men including those older than age 70. Patients younger than age 70 who got hormone therapy had a greater five-year overall survival rate than men over 70 did.
We concluded that age alone should not be considered a contraindication to hormone treatment in high-risk patients, lead author, Joshua Silverman, M.D., Ph.D., of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, was quoted as saying. While co-morbidities may influence clinical decision-making regarding androgen deprivation therapy, we do not have enough data to select patients who should or should not receive treatment of a shorter duration based on age alone.
SOURCE: 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Boston, Massachusetts, September 21-25, 2008
