Age of Prostate Cancer Patients Is Not Related to Survival

Young prostate cancer patients do not necessarily have a poorer prognosis than older patients, according to the March 15, 2003, issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

The traditional perception has been that younger prostate cancer patients diagnosed with the disease earlier have more aggressive tumors. To investigate the effect of patient age on outcome, researchers analyzed records from the Department of Defense Center for Prostate Disease Research to determine the disease-free survival of prostate cancer patients who had undergone radiation therapy.

The records of 1,018 patients who received medical care in the Department of Defense were reviewed for this study. All patients had T1-T3 prostate cancer and were treated with radiation therapy between 1988 and 2000. The records of patients receiving adjuvant hormonal therapy or adjuvant or salvage radiation postoperatively were excluded. The median potential follow-up was 85.3 months as of December 31, 2001. After analyzing the data using a variety of methods, researchers found that age did not significantly affect disease-free survival. Other variables analyzed included pre-treatment PSA level, Gleason score, stage and radiation dose.

"Along with the bias that younger patients are more at risk, there is also a perception that younger patients are better suited to surgery than radiation therapy. While our results did not allow us to draw any conclusions about the effectiveness of radiation versus surgery, this study questions the view that age should have any influence on the selection of a treatment modality," said Peter A.S. Johnstone, M.D., of the Naval Medical Center in San Diego and lead author of the study. "Absent data comparing radiation with surgery in young men, physicians counseling patients regarding potential therapies for prostate cancer should not consider the age of the patient to be a factor in choosing a treatment."

The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 7,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As a leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society's mission is to advance the practice of radiation oncology by promoting excellence in patient care, providing opportunities for educational and professional development, promoting research and disseminating research results and representing radiation oncology in a rapidly evolving socioeconomic healthcare environment.