[Note: Previously posted on 1-20 with original Subject "Statins improve
prostate cancer outcome", now reposted with "Sharon Hope"-type
subject.]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who've been treated for prostate cancer
and are taking one of the popular cholesterol-lowering 'statin' drugs (    
Lipitor and Zocor are examples) may be on to a good thing.

Statins appear to improve the outcome of prostate cancer treatment with
radioactive seed implants -- so-called brachytherapy -- according to a
new report.

Dr. Gregory S. Merrick from Wheeling Hospital in West Virginia and
colleagues evaluated the impact of statin therapy on disease progression
and long-term survival after in 512 men who had undergone brachytherapy
for localized prostate cancer.

At follow-up, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels, percentage of
positive biopsies, and tumor stage "were significantly lower in the
statin than in the nonstatin users," the investigators report in the
medical journal Urology.

Survival without recurrence of the disease at 8 years was 97 percent for
patients taking statins and 94percent for patients not taking statins,
the results indicate.

Higher PSA levels before treatment and being overweight were associated
with lower survival rates, the researchers note.

"Since cardiovascular disease is a primary cause of death in men treated
for clinically localized prostate cancer, an agent that could potentially
benefit both prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease would be of great
utility," Merrick commented to Reuters Health.

SOURCE: Urology, December 2005.