Combination Hormone and Radiation for Prostate Cancer

For Release: November 3, 1999

Combination Hormone and Radiation Therapy Yields
Best Results for Prostate Cancer Patients

Using hormonal and radiation therapy versus radiation therapy alone has had the best results in treating locally advanced, non-metastatic (spreading) prostate cancer, according to a national study.

The results of the Radiation Therapy Oncology (RTOG) study were presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX on November 3, 1999.

The benefit of hormones in prostate cancer patients receiving definitive radiation therapy were reanalyzed from two previous studies, RTOG 86-10 and 85-31, excluding those patients with prostate cancer in their lymph nodes and prostatectomy. These studies evaluated the effects of short-term hormones (STH) and long-term hormones (LTH) respectively in combination with radiation therapy.

Lead author, Eric M. Horwitz, M.D., said 993 patients were selected from the previous studies and analyzed to determine the total benefit of adjuvant hormones and radiation therapy treatment.

"The study revealed that using hormones was better than radiation alone," said Dr. Horwitz, of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Overall, patients treated with LTH had the best results and those treated with STH did better than patients treated without hormones.

Of the patients who received LTH hormones and radiation therapy, the study team examined which patients had the best results. They found that those with a Gleason score of 7-10 benefited most. The Gleason score measures the aggressiveness of the cancer. A rating of 2-6 is the least aggressive, a rating of 7 is in the middle, and a rating from 8-10 is the most aggressive.

Overall, patients displayed better PSA or prostate specific antigen control and experienced fewer distant metastases, or spreading of the cancer from one part of the body to another, when treated with a combination of hormones and radiation therapy.

The RTOG is a federally funded cancer clinical trials cooperative group, with headquarters in Philadelphia, PA, which carries out multi-disciplinary research in North America. It is a major clinical research component of the American College of Radiology. For further information about RTOG and clinical trials, please call Timothy McKeough at 215-574-3205.

###