Thanks for posting these research papers Curtis. It keeps up-to-date and
informed on PCa.

Dave P

ROCHESTER, NY - June 10, 2004 - Men with aggressive, metastatic
prostate cancer who undergo immediate hormone therapy live on average
three to four years longer than men who delay similar treatment, new
research shows.
The research team led by Dr. Edward M. Messing, of the University of
Rochester Medical Center found hormone therapy, which reduces the
production of testosterone known to stimulate prostate cancer
progression, is effective immediately following surgery or radiation
therapy.
"Evidence shows that if you have very aggressive prostate cancer that
could kill you, early hormone therapy is your best bet," Messing said in
a prepared statement.
The study, presented this week at the American Society of Clinical
Oncology meeting New Orleans, focused on men whose cancer had spread to
their pelvic lymph nodes and were treated with surgery to remove the
prostate and nodes.
Results showed that men who began hormone therapy soon after surgery
lived an average of 14 years, compared to 10 to 12 years for those who
delayed the treatment. The finding is consistent with results of a large
analysis of pooled data from multiple studies testing early versus
delayed hormonal therapy in men who have aggressive cancers. The men in
those studies were all treated with hormone therapy before the cancers
were found to have spread to distant sites.
"This is important information for patients and oncologists to have as
they make treatment decisions," says Messing, a urology surgeon and
chair of the Urology Department and deputy director of the James P.
Wilmot Cancer Center.
Prostate cancer is diagnosed in more than 220,000 men each year in the
United States, making it the second most common form of cancer in men,
behind skin cancers. Approximately 30,000 men with aggressive disease
will die from the disease each year, while another 30,000 of these
elderly men die from other health problems while battling the disease.

knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."