Everyday Health reports on a study that discovered after six months of hormone therapy, in addition to radiation therapy, the mortality rate associated with locally advanced prostate cancer was reduced by half when compared with the rate for patients who underwent radiation treatment only. The study also found that a short course of hormone therapy has fewer side effects than a longer use of hormones.
The study was recently published on the online edition of The Lancet Oncology. Eight hundred and two men that had locally advanced prostate cancer were randomly assigned to either three or six months of hormone therapy in addition to radiation, or only radiation for treatment. After 10 years, men who had been given six months of hormone therapy and radiation were significantly less likely to die due to their cancer when compared with men who had only been treated with radiation; about 11 percent compared with 22 percent, respectively. However, researchers noted that a three month course of hormone therapy did not have an impact on the disease process, or dying from prostate cancer or another cause, when compared to radiation treatment alone.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men. In 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available, in the U.S., 223,307 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 29,093 died from it. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the U.S., following lung cancer.
This recent study is encouraging for men facing advanced stages of prostate cancer. However, early detection should still be the goal of medical professionals to prevent the unnecessary suffering or death of a prostate cancer patient, and, screening of men age 45 and over with routine PSA tests and digital rectal examinations is recommended to help diagnose the disease at an early stage.
At Blume Forte, our New Jersey prostate cancer failure to diagnose lawyers understand the importance of a timely and correct diagnosis and treatment for all types of cancer, including prostate cancer. If you believe your cancer was not diagnosed in a timely manner, contact our law offices at 973-845-4421 for a no-cost consultation about your possible case.