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Prostate Cancer Therapy May Not Help Some Men

BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― Prostate cancer is the second deadliest cancer among men.

Healthwatch reporter Kellye Lynn explains new research indicates a commonly used treatment may not boost survival in certain patients.

When a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer, the main treatment options are surgery to remove the prostate, radiation and drugs used to block hormones.

This study finds in some older men, hormone blockers may not be the best option.

Every four months, Oscar Jenkins meets with his doctor for a prostate cancer treatment called hormone deprivation therapy. 

For him the injections have worked, but not without side effects.

"Hot flashes.  I understand about the ladies with hot flashes. I have that down pat. I know all about it," said prostate cancer patient Oscar Jenkins.

A newly published study shows the drugs used to block testosterone, which feeds cancer, could be harmful to older men whose cancer hasn't spread beyond the prostate.

"It looked at whether giving those men hormonal therapy increased their survival and it showed for the vast majority of those people it did not," said Dr. Michael Naslund, University of Maryland Medical Center.

Even more troubling, the study also found that men who took hormone therapy alone were slightly more likely to die over the next six years than men who delayed treatment or got no treatment at all.

"When you put a man on hormonal therapy and lower his testosterone, there are side effects that go along with that," said Naslund.

Side effects that can impede survival of diabetes, heart disease, bone loss and impotence.  That's a serious consideration for many of the two million men in the U.S. living with prostate cancer.

While hormone blocking therapy may not be the best choice for older men with localized cancer, Dr. Naslund emphasizes that in patients like Oscar who have aggressive disease, the treatment has proven to be effective since taking it. Oscar's PSA levels have dropped dramatically.

The average age of men in the study was 77 so the findings don't apply to younger men.  The researchers hope the study will prompt doctors to avoid prescribing hormone blocking drugs in older men whose disease is limited to the prostate.

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