Source: Journal of Urology; Medscape Medical News
Research published in the Journal of Urology appears to demonstrate that adjuvant radiotherapy (radiation treatment) within 18 weeks of surgery significantly reduced the risk of recurrence and metastasis of prostate cancer. Additional associations were reduced need for hormonal therapy and increased survival. This compared with the typical “watch and wait” approach, so-called “salvage therapy.”
How significantly? Of the 425 men studied, 214 received adjuvant radiation. (It is important to note that the patients were staged T1-2 with at least one critera of T3). Only 93 of the 214 in the radiation group became metastatic as opposed to 114 of the 211 who didn’t.
88 of the 214 in the radiation group did not survive their disease however 110 of the 211 who didn’t receive radiation did not survive prostate cancer. A median survival rate of 1.7 years. This is fairly medically significant.
This a “practice-changing” study, according to Dr. J. Brantley Thrasher of the University of Kansas School of Medicine and spokesperson for the American Urological Association. Let’s see how quickly it becomes implemented into practice.
~Posted by David Marc Schwadron, Esquire