Wed Oct 6, 2004 01:15 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Over a 5-year period, men with localized
prostate cancer showed a much sharper decline in sexual function and
urinary control than did similar men without the disease, researchers
report in the medical journal Cancer.
"Men facing decisions about treating early stage prostate cancer should
recognize that treatment-related declines in sexual and urinary function
may significantly exceed changes from normal aging," lead investigator
Dr. Richard M. Hoffman told Reuters Health.
Hoffman, with the New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care System in
Albuquerque, and colleagues note that previous findings in this area
have often been difficult to interpret because of problems
distinguishing the effects of treatment from the effects of aging.
To investigate further, the team studied 293 men with localized prostate
cancer and 618 age- and ethnicity-matched "controls." About 70 percent
of those in both groups were older than 60 years of age.
At the start of the study, the participants completed questionnaires
about prostate health and general health-related quality of life. Five
years later, 210 of the men with cancer (72 percent) and 421 of those in
the comparison group (68 percent) completed a follow-up survey.
At the outset, the men with prostate cancer had better urinary control
and sexual function than did those in the control group. However, at the
five-year mark the proportion of cancer patients reporting total urinary
control fell from 84 percent to 41 percent. Among controls, the
corresponding drop was from 72 percent to 69 percent.
Moreover, the proportion of men reporting no problems with erections
fell from 45 percent to 9 percent among those with prostate cancer, and
from 40 percent to 32 percent among the group without cancer.
Bowel function remained high in both groups, and health-related quality
of life was also "relatively high" in both groups.
Overall, the researchers conclude that the negative effects of the
disease and its treatment on sexual and urinary function "far exceeded
any effects from aging, particularly for men undergoing radical
prostatectomy."
SOURCE: Cancer, November 1, 2004.  
Reuters 2004

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."