For Some Prostate Cancer Patients, Combo Treatment Improves Survival (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, July 13 (HealthDay News) --

For men who have prostate cancer that's considered 'intermediate risk,' radiation plus four months of hormone therapy appears to improve survival, a new study finds.

Researchers found that patients with low-risk prostate cancer did not need hormone therapy because the chance they would survive with radiation alone was already almost 99 percent.

For patients with high-risk prostate cancer, using hormone therapy for just a short while is not effective. We know from other studies that short-term androgen deprivation therapy isn't enough. You need to give long-term androgen deprivation therapy in addition to radiation to have the best results.


For patients with early, localized cancer of the prostate who were treated with radiation therapy, [by] adding short-term androgen deprivation therapy, we improved their cure rates and increased their chance of living 10 years from 57 percent to 62 percent," said lead researcher Dr. Christopher U. Jones, from Radiological Associates of Sacramento, Calif.



For Some Prostate Cancer Patients, Combo Treatment Improves Survival