The Road to Surviving Prostate Cancer (Part 2)

This study shows that radiation therapy for recurrent prostate cancer significantly prolongs survival, "What this new study tells us is that even men with aggressive disease that has recurred after surgery appear to benefit from radiation therapy. It also means that we may be able to give radiation selectively to those who are really likely to benefit from it," said Trock.

On a lighter side of a dark subject, approximately 30 to 40 percent of men that have prostate cancer surgery for removal of high-0risk tumors experience no recurrence of cancer. The study was designed to determine the optimal timing for therapy and if it would improve survival rates for men with recurrent prostate cancer. The probability of a 10-year survival rate was 86 percent for men that had received radiotherapy vs. 62 percent for those that did not have radiation.

"This review suggests that even patients with aggressive cancer at the time of surgery not only benefit from salvage radiation therapy, but also actually live longer without a second prostate cancer recurrence," says Theodore L. DeWeese, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences. "This is the most important news for this group of patients in a long time."