Radiotherapy ‘helps to boost prostate survival rates’

RADIOTHERAPY can provide extended survival time for thousands of men with prostate cancer, a major trial has shown.

A study in London demonstrates for the first time that adding the treatment to standard hormone therapy in men with a locally advanced form of the disease significantly holds back cancer.

Up until now doctors have thought it pointless targeting the main tumour once the disease has begun to spread. But the new approach, reported in The Lancet, significantly increased the proportion of patients who were alive after three years, despite the spread.

While 70 per cent of those given hormone therapy alone survived for three years, around 80 per cent of those who received hormone and radiotherapy were alive after the same period.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting UK men, with 47,000 diagnosed every year, of whom around 11,500 die.

Scientists at University College London and The Royal Marsden Hospital, where the trial of 2,000 patients took place, say the results mean more than 3,000 men in England could benefit.

Dr Chris Parker, the lead researcher, said: “Our results show a powerful effect for certain men with advanced prostate cancer. These findings could and should change standard of care.”

The research team stressed that the benefit was restricted to men with locally advanced prostate cancer and was not seen in patients whose cancer had spread to other organs or bones.