Studies showed that if the radiationdefine therapy was administered within a couple of years of recurrence, the risk of death came down by two-thirds when compared to patients who did not receive any additional treatment.
Said Dr. Bruce J. Trock of Baltimore’s John Hopkins University School of Medicine, who conducted the study with his colleagues, “Our data strongly suggest that post-surgery radiotherapy can improve survival in men whose tumors are growing rapidly.”
The study Dr. Trock and his colleagues conducted analyzed the effect of salvage radiotherapy, which implies treatment with radiation provided after cancerdefine recurs, and looked to determine if it resulted in an increase in survival rates.
In their report, the researchers said, “Nearly 60,000 men, about 27% of newly diagnosed cases, will have undergone radical prostatectomy in 2007. Although surgery provides excellent cancer control, approximately 15% to 40 % of these men will experience cancer recurrence within five years, usually manifested only by elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level.”
The researchers used as subjects for their study 635 men. These men underwent radical prostatectomy between 1982 and 2004 and had also suffered recurrence of their cancer – biochemical as well as local.
During the study, 397 of the 635 men were denied salvage treatment, while another 160 were given just salvage radiotherapy. 78 others were given a combination of salvage therapy and hormonal therapy.
The subjects were followed up through December 2007.After a median follow-up time of six years after cancer recurrence and nine years after prostatectomy, the research team was able to record a few observations.
They found that 18% of the men, i.e., 116 out of 397, died from prostate cancerdefine. In more specific terms, the number of deaths in the group that received no salvage treatment stood at 89 out of 397, or 22%.
In the group that was given just salvage therapy, the number of deaths stood at 18 out of 160, or 11%. In the third group, which received a combination treatment of salvage therapy and hormonal therapy, the number of deaths stood at 9 out of 78, or 12%.
The major finding that came out of the study was the fact that there was a substantial reduction in the threat of death in about 60% of the cases that were given salvage therapy, be it in combination with hormonal therapy or alone. The researchers also found the survival rates specific to cancer were three times higher in the case of subjects who were administered salvage therapy.
According to the researchers, “This study provides provocative evidence that even men with adverse prognostic features such as rapid PSA doubling time or high Gleason score [a grading system for prostate cancer] may benefit from salvage radiotherapy.”
This is the first study that shows the benefits of using radiation therapy post-recurrence of prostate cancer. It has been published in JAMA’s June 18 edition.
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