Several studies have shown the efficacy of combined androgen-deprivation and radiation therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer. Men with locally-advanced or high-risk local prostate cancer experience a survival benefit when radiation therapy is added to androgen-deprivation therapy, according to an article published in the December 12, 2008 early online edition of The Lancet .

 Physicians from Umea University in Sweden and their colleagues studied 875 patients with locally-advanced prostate cancer who were recruited from 47 centers in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. These patients were randomized to receive either androgen-deprivation treatment alone or androgen-deprivation treatment plus radiation therapy. The physicians found that the 10-year prostate-cancer-specific mortality was 23.9% in the androgen-deprivation treatment alone group and 11.9% in the combination therapy group. They also found that the 10-year mortality from any cause was lower in the combination therapy group.

The researchers concluded that adding radiation therapy to androgen-deprivation treatment cut the 10-year mortality from prostate cancer in half with a fully-acceptable risk of side effects. In light of their findings, they conclude that androgen-deprivation treatment plus radiation should be the new standard of care for locally-advanced prostate cancers.

Source

The Lancet. Early Online Publication, 16 December 2008.