Swedish researchers reported that combining prostrate radiotherapy to the standard drug therapy can cut death rate from advanced prostrate cancer in half and should become the standard of care globally.

In the study published in an upcoming edition of The Lancet the authors wrote, "The present study indicates a significant superiority of the endocrine plus radiotherapy treatment compared with endocrine treatment alone in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer."

The study was conducted by Anders Widmark, of Department of Radiation Sciences, Oncology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, and colleagues. They conducted a phase 3 randomized trial in 875 men with locally advanced prostate cancer and results showed that nearly 24 % of the men who received only standard drugs had died after 10 years as compared to just fewer than 12 % of men who received a combination with radiation treatment.

Death from any cause was also higher in the endocrine only group at 39.4% than in the endocrine plus radiotherapy group at 29.6%.

At 10 years the cumulative incidence of recurrence of prostate cancer was nearly 3-times higher in the endocrine only group at 75% than in the endocrine plus radiotherapy group at 26%. After 5 years, urinary, rectal, and sexual problems were slightly more frequent in the combined treatment group than in the endocrine only group.

"The endocrine plus radiotherapy resulted in a substantial reduction of prostate cancer mortality. This significant difference, which at 10 years reached 12%, also translated into improved difference in overall survival (9.8%). The quality of life and adverse effect profile [of radiotherapy] is acceptable. We therefore suggest that endocrine treatment plus radiotherapy should be the new standard of care for these patients."

The authors also reported that the addition of radiation does not add too many side-effects. "The quality of life and adverse effect profile is acceptable. We therefore suggest that endocrine treatment plus radiotherapy should be the new standard of care for these patients," said Widmark

Dr. Chris Parker and Dr. Alex Tan of Britain's Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey, said that the trial was the first to show a benefit for radiotherapy in the primary treatment of prostrate cancer. "The results should change current practice, making long-term hormonal therapy plus radical radiotherapy the standard of care for men with locally advanced prostate cancer," they wrote.

Dr. Howard Sandler, chair of Radiation Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and a spokesman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology said, adding radiation therapy is already standard practice in the United States. "A 50 percent reduction in the risk of prostate cancer death is a real clinical benefit," he said. "The radiation therapy that was performed here (in the study) was somewhat simplistic," Sandler added. "Modern radiation therapy with higher doses, if anything, might magnify the benefits."