Race Does Not Influence Outcome in Prostate Cancer

For Release: October 25, 1998

Contact: Keri J. Sperry, (703) 295-6775
Michael J. Bernstein (703) 648-8910, michaelb@acr.org

Race Does Not Influence Outcome In Early Stage Prostate Cancer

African American patients with early stage prostate cancer are not more likely than their Caucasian counterparts to have their cancer recur, a new study of patients in the Detroit, MI area has found.

The study, presented by Kimberly Hart, M.D., assistant professor, Wayne State University, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, included 693 patients who were treated with either radiation therapy or radical prostatectomy. The study was presented at the ASTRO annual meeting October 25, 1998 in Phoenix.

"We found that patients with lower PSA levels and lower Gleason scores (which measures how a tumor looks under a microscope) before treatment were less likely to have their cancer recur -- regardless of their race," says Dr. Hart. The study found that the disease free survival rate for patients with a pretreatment PSA level of 15 or less was about 86 percent (87 percent for Caucasian men and 85 percent for African American men). "For patients who had pretreatment PSA levels of greater than 15, the disease free survival rate drops to about 62 percent," says Dr. Hart.

"The study underlines the importance of early detection of prostate cancer; race did not influence outcome among this group of patients with early stage disease," she says.

The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 5,000 members. As a leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the society's goals are to advance the scientific base of radiation therapy and to extend the benefits of radiation therapy to those with cancer.

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