Hormone therapy in prostate cancer

Hormone-blocking drugs don't help older men survive early-stage prostate cancer, a study shows. Hormone therapy, which suppress the testosterone that feeds prostate tumors, has grown in popularity partly because of its value in treating aggressive cancers. Studies show that adding hormone therapy to surgery or radiation for men with aggressive disease, which is likely to spread, cuts the death rate by about half. More men in an early stage of the disease, which is defined by its not having spread beyond the prostate, also are being given hormone therapy even though no studies show it is beneficial, says Grace Lu-Yao, main author of a study in today's Journal of the American Medical Association. The number of low-risk patients treated only with hormone therapy instead of surgery or radiation grew from 5% in 1989 to 14% in... [read full story]