A research that appeared in the journal The Lancet has revealed that a group of Canadian researchers have found yet another use of a drug which is commonly used to treat enlarged prostate. The study researchers said that the drug known as dutasteride may be able to treat men who suffer from low risk of prostate cancer.

The study's lead author Dr. Neil Fleshner, of the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, said that the low risk prostate cancer patients are those in which cancer grows quite slowly and has no effect on their average life span. Generally, doctors advise them to go for wait-and-watch approach as cancer stops growing by itself sometimes.

The drug would now help those men to get free from that risk. In order to reach the conclusion, the study researchers enrolled 300 men who were between 48 and 82 years of age. All of them were suffering from low risk prostate cancer, and their conditions were regularly monitored by their respective doctors.

As part of the experiment, total number of men was divided into two equal halves. One group was asked to take a dummy capsule, and other group was given dutasteride weighing 0.5 mg a day for three years.

In order to check the efficacy of the drug, the enrolled participants were taken for biopsies after the completion of 18 months. The same procedure was adopted after the completion of three years.

It was revealed that 48% of the men who were taking dummy capsule witnessed an increase in their cancer and 38% of drug taking group found the same. Another thing that got revealed was that many men who were taking dutasteride found no cancer after the completion of trial period. Fleshner said that, “This drug may not save a life, but it will prevent men whose cancer will pose no long-term risk, stave off surgery or radiation or treatment with side effects”.