Radiation provides additive benefit to hormonal therapy in prostate cancer

Men suffering with locally advanced prostate cancer, addition of radiation related treatment to their anti-androgen hormone reduces the risk of mortality by 50% over a period of ten years, compared to the hormone treatment independently.

This is according to a randomized research presented on Monday at the “American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's” fiftieth Annual Meeting held in Boston.

The lead investigator of the study who also presented this report at the meeting Dr. Anders Widmark, of Umea University in Sweden said that this study is the first to show that men with advanced prostate cancer have higher chances of survival when radiation is added to their normal treatment plan.

The research team studied life of around eight hundred men. The median age of these men was sixty seven years. These men suffered from locally advanced prostate cancer who received 3 months of androgen blockade then this was followed by anti-androgen therapy and this was compared with men who received external radiation therapy with the similar of hormonal therapy.

Dr. Widmark said their findings were surprising. He also said that the radiation therapy with the hormone therapy reduced the mortality rate in half.

by Jennifer Larson
radRounds.com, Writer
October 17, 2008



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