Drugs may slow early prostate cancer

A new study suggests a way to help men with early, low-risk prostate cancer avoid being overtreated for a disease that in most cases will never threaten their lives. It found that a drug can slow the growth of these tumors in men who opt to be monitored instead of having treatment right away.

This is the first time that a drug for treating enlarged prostates also has been shown to help treat prostate cancer in a rigorous study. It may persuade more men to choose "watchful waiting," instead of rushing to have treatments that can leave them with urinary or sexual problems, doctors say.

The results also show that most of these men do very well with no treatment at all.

But Americans fear cancer so much that they want some kind of treatment and underestimate the financial and medical risks, said Dr. Maha Hussain, a University of Michigan cancer specialist.Results were released in a tele-conference sponsored by the American Society for Clinical Oncology.

About half of the 218,000 men diagnosed each year in the United States with prostate cancer have low-risk disease.

Doctors know that drugs that shrink the prostate - GlaxoSmithKline PLC's Avodart and Merck & Co.'s Proscar - can help prevent prostate cancer. But federal health advisers recently recommended against taking them for this purpose because of potential risks.

The new study tested Avodart "not to prevent cancer, but to prevent the progression" of it, which may be a much better use of such drugs, said the study's leader, Dr. Neil Fleshner.

In another study, men who show signs of balding at 20 are twice as likely to develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes than those who keep their manes or lose them later. The findings may help identify those who would most benefit from screening, said the lead author, Philippe Giraud, a professor of radiation oncology at Paris Descartes University. - AP and Bloomberg