By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
HealthDay
THURSDAY, Nov. 7, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Men who
undergo prostate
cancer treatment face a greatly increased risk of life-altering,
long-term complications, a new study finds.
Surgery for prostate cancers increases a man’s risk of
urinary or sexual complications more than sevenfold, researchers reported Nov.
7 in the journal JAMA
Oncology.
Meanwhile, radiation therapy, the other major treatment
option, causes a threefold increase in a man’s risk of similar complications or
bladder cancer, researchers discovered.
Many men might opt out of prostate cancer screening if they
knew these potential risks, researchers argue.
“This study throws down a major gauntlet to all physicians
to give patients this information before they even begin the process of drawing
a PSA test,” said senior researcher Dr. Ian
Thompson Jr., a urologist with the University of Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio.
A PSA test measures the blood level of a protein called
prostate-specific antigen. Men with rising PSA levels are at greater risk of
prostate cancer.
About 30 million U.S. men are in the age range (55 to 69)
recommended to discuss PSA testing with their doctor, researchers said in
background notes.
Making an informed decision about PSA testing requires that
men understand the magnitude of the risks and benefits of screening,
researchers said.
For this study, researchers analyzed data for more than
29,000 men who participated in one of two large National Cancer Institute
studies aimed at preventing prostate cancer.
The team found that more than 3,900 of these men had been
diagnosed with prostate cancer, including 655 treated with surgery and 1,056
who received radiation therapy.
The rest of the men had opted for active surveillance of
their prostate cancer, given that the cancer tends to grow slowly.
Researchers examined Medicare claims data for 10 potential
complications related to prostate cancer treatment, including erectile
dysfunction, incontinence and bladder cancer.
Men in the prostate surgery group had a more than six times
greater risk of having at least one of these complications within 12 years of
their procedure, compared to those who weren’t treated, results show.
The 12-year risk of complications from radiation therapy was
three times greater than foregoing treatment, researchers noted.
“Past studies of prostate cancer treatment complications
have had small sample sizes, limited follow-up or the absence of a valid
control group,” lead researcher Joseph
Unger, an associate professor at Fred Hutch Cancer Center, said in a news
release.
“Our study is distinguished by long follow-up, out to 12
years, looking at a broad spectrum of key complications,” Unger added.
“Critically, we were able to compare treated men to a representative control
group of untreated men, which prior studies have not included.”
More information
The American Cancer Society has more on prostate cancer.
SOURCE: SWOG Cancer Research Network, news release, Nov. 7,
2024
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