Androgen deprivation therapy, an effective but costly and potentially toxic treatment, is often used to treat advanced prostate cancer.
But a new study suggests that a patient's choice of physician, rather than the stage of his cancer, may determine whether or not he gets the treatment.
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston studied the treatment histories of nearly 62,000 men from a Medicare database, age 65 and older, who were diagnosed with prostate cancer. They also looked at data on the patients' 1,802 urologists and the frequency with which they prescribed androgen deprivation therapy.
The therapy, which prevents production of cancer-promoting steroid androgens in cells, is used in approximately half of all prostate cancers, typically for more advanced or metastatic tumors.
According to the study, just 9.7 percent of patients prescribed the therapy received it because of the stage or grade of their tumors. Twenty-one percent seemed to have been prescribed androgen treatment because it was favored by the urologist they saw. In fact, use of the therapy could be attributed to symptoms and other patients' specifics only 4.3 percent of the time, the team said.
The findings "suggest that interventions at the level of the urologist may be an effective way to modify the use of this therapy for prostate cancer," the authors wrote in a prepared statement.
An editorial, written by Dr. Paul F. Schellhammer, of Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, appears alongside the findings, which appear in the June 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Schellhammer said, "the challenge for urologists is to offer men with high-risk, potentially lethal prostate cancer androgen deprivation therapy early in their course of treatment and to avoid the unnecessary risks of androgen deprivation therapy among men with low-risk indolent [slow-moving] disease."
FREE online report shows how we can save America through a nutrition health care
revolution. "Eating healthy is patriotic!" Click here to read it now...
The
Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D
In this exclusive interview, Dr. Michael Holick reveals fascinating facts on
how vitamin D is created and used in the human body to ward off chronic diseases
like cancer, osteoporosis, mental disorders and more. Click here to read it now...
Vaccines:
Get the Full Story
The International Medical Council on Vaccination has released, exclusively through
NaturalNews.com, a groundbreaking document containing the signatures of physicians,
brain surgeons and professors, all of which have signed on to a document stating
that vaccines pose a significant risk of harm to the health of children.
Click here to read it now...
Health
Ranger Storable Organics
GMO-free, chemical-free foods and superfoods for long-term storage and preparedness.
See selection at www.StorableOrganics.com
Email this article to a friend
Now Available from 
){kind=link}