Prostate Cancer Mortality Higher with Non-Curative Approaches

Hi

Here is a new report on men 67 and older having higher mortality with non curative treatment.

More to think about.

Best wishes to the brothers and there family

Gerry

http://www.renalandurologynews.com/prostate-cancer-mortality-higher-with-non-curative-approaches/article/283792/#

Hi David

Well it's good to know that older men need to think seriously about curative treatment.

I'm sure that most would like to do AS.

But at age 67 and above more serious decisions.

Best wishes to all

Gerry

PS. David my thoughts are with you and all suffering from continuous disabling pain. 

I am interested in their speculation that older men may more often be mis-graded on biopsy because their prostates tend to be larger and, thus, the same biopsy sample represents a smaller proportion of the overall gland. It echos something that my oncologist said about Avodart's failed clinical trial as a cancer preventative drug in which men on Avodart were shown to have higher rates of aggressive (higher grade) cancers. My oncologist thinks that the rates of high-risk cancer are approximately the same in both groups (or maybe slightly less with Avodart) but that, since Avodart shrinks the prostate it makes the probability of hitting a high-grade cancer with a biopsy needle higher because you are looking for the same needle in a substantially smaller haystack. He thinks that Avodart improves the accuracy of biopsy making it miss fewer high-risk cancers and giving the appearance of a higher number of cancers among men in the Avodart group.

As for the rest of the study, it's a bit disappointing that they didn't compare overall survival to get a feeling for how the side effects of curative treatment stack up against palliative treatments in terms of mortality and morbidity. But still, an interesting result that provides a different perspective in an area where the discussion has become a bit monochromatic.

exactly, logo.