Study Raises Questions About Widely Used Drug

By LINDSEY TANNER

By Lindsey Tanner

The Associated Press

CHICAGO

A prostate cancer study that could change how doctors treat some patients found that widely used hormone-blocking drugs did not improve survival chances for older men whose disease hadn’t spread.

In fact, men given the drugs alone were slightly more likely to die of prostate cancer during the next six years than men who’d gotten medical monitoring but no or delayed treatment, another common treatment approach.

The study involved nearly 20,000 Medicare patients with prostate cancer that hadn’t spread. A surprising 41 percent received only drug treatment, in shots or implants, showing that the therapy has become a popular alternative to surgery and radiation, the study authors said.

Other experts said the study gives doctors important information about how to treat older men with slow-growing disease that hasn’t spread beyond the prostate. The study, however, didn’t look at whether hormone-blocking drugs alone benefit younger men or compare that treatment with radiation or surgery.

Randomized studies have shown that the drugs can benefit men with more aggressive disease when used along with surgery or radiation. But research is sparse on using hormone-blockers alone or in patients with localized cancer, like those in their study, the authors said.

The drugs block production of testosterone, which feeds cancer cells. They are sometimes given in addition to surgery or radiation; using them alone is a less traditional but increasingly used approach, particularly among older men whose prostate cancer hasn’t spread, the study authors said.

The drugs typically are given in a doctor’s office and can have serious side effects including increasing risks for diabetes, heart diseases, impotence and bone loss.

Patients often believe that any treatment is better than nothing, said lead author Dr. Grace Lu-Yao of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey .

She said the researchers hoped the study would prompt doctors to avoid hormone-blocking drugs alone in older men whose disease hasn’t spread.

The results appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The researchers examined medical records for 19,271 Medicare prostate cancer patients over 66 and followed them for an average of about six years. That observational approach is less rigorous than studies in which researchers randomly choose patients for certain treatments and compare results. “

the findings

A prostate cancer study found that widely used hormone-blocking drugs did not improve survival chances for older men whose disease hadn’t spread.

Originally published by BY LINDSEY TANNER.

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