Contact:Lesley Nevers, (703) 227-0179[email protected]Keri J. Sperry, (703) 227-0156[email protected]
Boston Press Room: (617) 954-3616;
(617) 954-3617; (617) 954-3618
For Release: October 25, 2000
Myth That Radiation Therapy is Only for Older Prostate Cancer Patients is Dispelled
The idea that radiation therapy should only be offered to older prostate cancer patients because radiation therapy isn't a "durable treatment" has again been disproved. A new study with 10-year follow-up shows that radiation therapy does offer long-term disease- free survival.
A total of 446 patients treated with external beam radiation therapy were reviewed at five years and again at 10 years after treatment. Patients who had no evidence of disease at five years were very likely to have no evidence of disease at 10 years, says Torunn Yock, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Dr. Yock presented the study on October 25 during the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology annual meeting in Boston, MA.
A low PSA level at five years after treatment correlates with a relatively low likelihood of relapse, says Dr. Yock. Ninety-one percent of patients who had a PSA level of less than 0.5 ng/mL five years after treatment remained disease free 10 years after treatment, she says. Eighty-six percent of patients with PSA levels of 0.5 ng/mL but less than 1.0 ng/mL at five years after treatment were disease free at 10 years, and about 74 percent of those with PSA levels of 1.0 ng/mL and 2.0 were disease free at 10 years, she says. Patients who were most likely to have low PSAs at five years were those with lower stage disease at the start of disease.
Patients who had higher PSA levels above 2.0 did not fare as well, notes Dr. Yock. But, these patients tended to have higher stages of disease, she adds.
There exists a misconception that radiation therapy is capable of holding prostate cancer at bay for five years, but that relapses after that time are very common, says Dr. Yock. This study finds that late relapses are substantially less common than is currently believed, she says.
###
RSS