AGI – The survival rate of men with prostate cancer who underwent removal of the entire prostate gland immediately after cancer diagnosis increased by 17% compared to those who did not undergo treatment until the tumor started causing symptoms. Additionally, those who underwent the surgery lived on average more than two years. This was revealed by a Scandinavian study lasting thirty years, conducted by Uppsala University and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“It was unique to have been able to follow a randomized treatment trial for so long that allowed us to understand how treatment of early prostate cancer affects life expectancy,” said Lars Holmberg, from Uppsala University. , who participated in the study from the beginning. In the study, which began in 1989, The researchers compared the removal of the entire prostate gland immediately after the discovery of a prostate tumor with the standard treatment at the time, which was given only when the tumor began to cause symptoms and almost always consisted of hormonal treatment.
Over the course of ten years, 695 men suffering from prostate cancer alone were recruited to the studywhich were followed until 2022. After thirty years, most of the deceased men had died from causes other than prostate cancer. The risk of dying from prostate cancer during this period was 17% lower for those in the group who were offered surgery. These men also lived an average of 2.2 years longer than those whose treatment started later.
“We have seen that treatment affects the course of the disease for the rest of the individual’s life – said Anna Bill-Axelson, professor of urology at Uppsala University and doctor at Uppsala University Hospital -. This also means that when a prostate cancer study is analyzed has a big impact on how the results are interpreted. The short-term perspective does not provide a fully adequate picture of the pros and cons of treatment.”
The study was conducted before the PSA test, a blood test that shows changes in the prostate, became common. Most of the men in the study had prostate cancer that was detected because of symptoms. This situation is different from the current situation, in which the vast majority of people with early-stage prostate cancer have been detected by the PSA test. The prognosis is therefore better today than in the men who participated in the study. “But, there is reason to believe that today’s treatment choices also have consequences for the rest of a man’s life, which is important to know when counseling patients,” Holmberg concluded.
