Thousands could be spared pain of prostate chemo

THOUSANDS of men with prostate cancer could be safely spared chemotherapy, after research found some were not helped by it.

a study of more than 2,000 men with advanced prostate cancer showed that on average, docetaxel chemotherapy improved five-year survival rates.

It was more effective in men with many metastases – meaning the cancer had spread – when diagnosed. But men with fewer metastases whose cancer was caught earlier did not benefit at all.

Dr Hayley Luxton, at study funder Prostate Cancer UK, said the findings could allow clinicians to ‘treat smarter, not harder’. ‘all this paves the way for men to receive more personalised, more effective treatments,’ she added.

Experts believe hundreds of men a year, rising to thousands over time, could be offered other lifeextending treatments – avoiding chemotherapy’s side-effects of tiredness, nausea, hair loss and loss of appetite. Dr Claire Vale, of University College London, who presented the findings to the american Society of Clinical Oncology, said they should be put into practice as soon as possible.