Good Day All,
thought this information may be of some use.
God Bless You All,
marty auslander
Freezing Cancer Cells
an Option for Prostate
Cancer Patients
NEW YORK, Jan 07 (Reuters Health) --
Prostate cancer patients who do not
respond to radiation therapy may
benefit from a procedure in which
cancer cells are frozen and destroyed,
US researchers report in the journal
Urology.
The investigators found that 97% of
these patients with cancer confined to
the prostate gland remained free of
cancer for nearly 2 years after
undergoing this procedure, known as
cryosurgery.
"The evidence that freezing destroys
cancer cells is indisputable," the
authors conclude, adding that
cryotherapy is "a viable option in the
management of patients who have
biopsy proven local failure following
radiation therapy for prostate cancer."
About 54,000 patients, or 30% of those
diagnosed with prostate cancer each
year, undergo radiation therapy as their
primary therapy. However, cancer will
recur in about 40% of these patients,
according to the report.
Current treatment options for patients
with recurring prostate cancer include
radical prostatectomy, a complicated
surgical procedure that can lead to
incontinence and impotence; and
hormone therapy, which can delay
disease progression but does not
shrink tumors.
The study, by Dr. Aaron Katz and
colleagues with Columbia-Presbyterian
Medical Center in New York, included
43 prostate cancer patients, average
age 69 years, who had cryosurgery
because radiation therapy failed to cure
their disease.
Patients received hormone therapy for
3 months to shrink the size of the
prostate gland and then underwent
cryosurgery. Every 3 months, the
investigators performed tests to check
for cancer. At 22 months, 97% of
patients remained disease free.
Only 9% of patients reported urinary
incontinence. Some patients reported
minor rectal pain or swelling following
cryosurgery but symptoms disappeared
within 3 months.
Katz and colleagues note that further
refinements in cryosurgery are
expected to enhance results.
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