New Hope For Men With Advanced Prostate Cancer

New Hope For Men With Advanced Prostate Cancer
Reported by: Delaine Mathieu

Last Update: 1/22 6:07

New Hope For Men With Advanced Prostate Cancer

It's new hope for men with advanced prostate cancer.

A San Antonio study which spanned over 2 decades has just wrapped up. The study found men who undergo a certain type of treatment greatly improved their chances of survival.

Prostate cancer affects more than 200,000 men a year. About 1/3 of men who have surgery to remove the cancer are at risk of it coming back.

After 21 years of research, Dr. Ian Thompson and his team at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio believe they may finally know how to stop it.

"We now know that the radiation significantly improves the cure rate," said Dr. Thompson.

The study found men who underwent radiation therapy immediately after their surgeries greatly increased their chance of survival.

"It delays the chance for recurrence by, on average, 7 years," Dr. Thompson told News 4.

High-risk patients are men whose cancer was found on the edge of the prostate or outside of it. Now, finally there's hope for thousands of men.

"For prostate cancer, there are many things we don't know," explained Dr. Thompson. "The fact that we now know this improves survival and delays recur rance of the disease by almost a decade? That's a big deal."