Radiation
Therapy Helps Fight Prostate Cancer
Combination Treatment A
Plus
Men with prostate
cancer who receive radiation therapy within six months of surgery
typically live longer than men who do not receive
early radiation treatment, a new study finds.
"Our results show
that radiation therapy after prostate surgery helps limit the
chances that the cancer will recur, allowing patients to live
longer," says Dr. Cesare Cozzarini, a radiation oncologist at
San Raffaele H. Scientific Institute in Milan, and the study's
principal investigator.
The study report
is published in the International Journal of Radiation
Oncology*Biology*Physics, a publication of the American
Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.
"To my knowledge,
this is the largest study of its kind completed at a single
institution," he adds.
Prostate cancer is
the second most common malignancy affecting US men. The
American Cancer Society estimates some 230,900 new cases will
be diagnosed this year, with about 29,900 deaths. Only skin
cancer is more prevalent.
One American man in
six will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime and one
in 32 will die from the disease.
Understanding
of Therapy Benefits Evolving
Dr. Ronald Smialowicz,
a urologist in private practice at St. Francis Memorial Hospital
in San Francisco, says, "The standard of care in prostate cancer
is continuing to evolve.
"As is now the case
in the treatment of breast cancer, the best outcomes will likely
occur when prostate cancer treatment is highly individualized
and men themselves participate in making an informed decision
about what treatments they pursue at each point in their disease
and recovery process."
Dr. E. Roy Berger,
founding member of the Prostate Cancer Education Council,
notes that the Milan research and similar recent studies are
moving the treatment of prostate cancer along the same path
recently traveled by breast cancer patients and physicians.
"Five years ago, radical
mastectomy was the only way to go in breast cancer treatment," Dr.
Berger says.
"Today there's been
so much good research about the positive outcomes of other treatment
approaches that chemotherapy, radiation, and less radical surgical
interventions are widely used together - and the breast cancer
survival rates are improving," he says.
Dr. Berger believes
that "this is the same course the treatment of prostate cancer
is likely to follow, as understanding grows of the roles radiation,
hormones, and chemotherapy used together can play in saving
men's lives."
Researchers
Learn About Survival Rates
The researchers examined
the records of 415 men with prostate cancer who underwent surgery
to remove their prostate and surrounding lymph nodes between
1986 and 1999 at the Institute.
Two groups of post-surgical
patients were studied. One group included men who received external
beam radiation therapy within six months of their prostate operation.
The other group included
men whose physicians followed them over time and provided radiation
therapy only if their cancers showed signs of returning.
None of the men whose
records were studied had metastatic disease - that is, cancer
in areas of the body other than the prostate.
After eight years
of follow-up, the survival rate for men receiving early radiation
therapy was 69 percent, compared to 31 percent for those who
had radiation therapy more than six months after their surgeries
or not at all.
The researchers also
found that the disease remained localized in the prostate for
93 percent of the patients in the early radiation therapy group,
compared to 63 percent in the other group.
The risk of death
from localized prostate cancer was also significantly lower
for men receiving post-surgical early radiation therapy.
Dr. Eric Horwitz,
director of the Radiation Oncology Training Program at Fox Chase
Cancer Center in Philadelphia, says the Italian study is the
first to offer evidence about whether radiation treatment soon
after prostate surgery actually improves a man's chances of
survival.
"These results provide
oncologists, urologists, and radiologists with another important
piece of the prostate cancer treatment puzzle," Dr. Horwitz
says. "The study included a significant number of patients and
included many follow-up details about these men five and eight
years later.
"Most importantly,
it also provides valuable information about whether they survived,
not just about their levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA),
which is what most previous studies have reported," he
says.
Always consult your
physician for more information. |
August 2004
Radiation
Therapy Helps Fight Prostate Cancer
Understanding
of Therapy Benefits Evolving
Researchers
Learn About Survival Rates
What
Is Radiation Therapy?
Online
Resources
What
Is Radiation Therapy?
Radiation therapy
uses high-energy rays to kill or shrink cancer cells, and to
decrease their ability to divide.
Radiation is often
used to treat prostate cancer that is still confined to the
prostate gland, or has spread only to nearby tissue. If the
disease is advanced, radiation may be used to reduce the size
of the tumor and to provide relief from symptoms.
There are generally
two types of radiation therapy:
external radiation
(external beam therapy) - a treatment that precisely
sends high levels of radiation directly to the cancer cells.
The machine is controlled by the radiation therapist. Since
radiation is used to kill cancer cells, special shields may
be used to protect the tissue surrounding the treatment area.
Radiation treatments are painless and usually last a few minutes.
This type of radiation therapy may be given daily for several
weeks.
internal radiation (implant therapy) - a procedure
that uses small, radioactive seeds (each about the size of a
grain of rice) that are implanted directly into the cancerous
prostate tumor. The implanted seeds may be left in permanently
or may be only temporary. The seeds emit small amounts of radiation
for a period of weeks or months.
As each person's individual
medical profile and diagnosis is different, so is his/her reaction
to treatment. Side effects may be severe, mild, or absent. Be
sure to discuss with your cancer care team any/all possible
side effects of treatment before the treatment begins.
Possible side effects
of external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer may include
the following:
-
diarrhea (with or without
blood in the stool) and colitis
-
problems associated with
urination
-
a degree of impotence (inability
to achieve or maintain an erection), which may occur within
two years of radiation therapy
-
fatigue, especially during
the later weeks of treatment
Possible side effects
of internal radiation therapy for prostate cancer may include
the following:
-
slight bleeding soon after
the seeds are placed
-
occasional loss of the seeds
when urinating
-
Always consult your
physician for more information.
Online
Resources
(Our Organization
is not responsible for the content of Internet sites.)
American
Cancer Society
American
Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Healthfinder,
US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
National
Cancer Institute Prostate Cancer Information
National
Institutes of Health (NIH)
National
Library of Medicine |
