Press release
2000 Medscape, Inc
www.CBSHealthWatch.com
Risks for Prostate Cancer
The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be 180,400 new cases of prostate cancer and 31,900 deaths from prostate cancer in the year 2000. It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men in the United States, topped only by lung cancer. Known risk factors for prostate cancer include:
Other factors under investigation as risk factors for prostate cancer are:
Dr. Bubley and several colleagues conducted an analysis of testosterone blood levels in men who later developed prostate cancer. They found that men with the highest levels of testosterone in their blood were twice as likely to have a diagnosed prostate cancer when they grew older, compared to men with the lowest levels. In contrast, HRT for women only seems to increase breast cancer risk by 3-30%.
But, Dr. Bubley is quick to point out problems in interpreting these studies. "Prostate cancer may take years to grow he says. "It's not like other cancers, like lung or colon, that seem to pop up more quickly. We know this from autopsy studies on men who die from other causes. Many of them have subclinical prostate cancer." It is this subclinical cancer, defined as a few cancer cells in the prostate that may never be detected and may never grow to a great number to cause problems, which could theoretically be affected by giving testosterone therapy.
Dr. Bubley's study may represent the classic chicken-or-egg question: Do the higher testosterone levels cause the prostate cancer or does a pre-existing subclinical prostate cancer somehow bring about the higher testosterone blood levels? We don't know. …
Dr. Glenn Bubley is the Assistant Professor of Medicine at Beth Israel Hospital - Division of Hematology/Oncology
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