Medscape Medical News -
Long-term data confirm the finding that finasteride reduces the risk
for prostate cancer by about a third, but they also show no effect on
overall survival or on survival after a diagnosis of prostate cancer.
The new data, from an 18-year follow-up of men taking part in the
Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT), are published in the August 15
issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The new data should reopen the debate about using finasteride for the
prevention of prostate cancer, says Eric Klein, MD, from the Cleveland
Clinic, in Ohio, who was not involved in the study.
