Experts debate the use of prostate cancer drug
June 15th, 2008 Posted in prostate cancer preventionA new research shows that Finasteride (Proscar) reduces the risk of prostate cancer in all men, regardless of their risk level for the disease. The drug blocks the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, a hormone active mostly in the prostate and the scalp, and that all prostate cancers need to grow. Leading prostate cancer specialists say they have a drug that can significantly cut men’s risk of developing the disease, dropping the incidence by 30 percent.
With finasteride, as many as 100,000 cases of prostate cancer a year could be prevented, said Dr. Eric Klein, director of the Center for Urologic Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic.
Other experts say not so fast. Finasteride might not make much of a difference in the death rate because so few men die from prostate cancer. What the drug’s proponents are advocating is taking a drug to somehow compensate for what many believe is the nation’s overzealous diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Dr. Peter Albertsen, a prostate cancer specialist at the University of Connecticut, explains: While 10 percent of men 55 and older find out they have prostate cancer, it is lethal in no more than 25 percent of them. So if finasteride reduced the cancer’s incidence by 30 percent, about 7 percent of men would get a cancer diagnosis and approximately 1.8 percent instead of 2.5 percent would have a lethal cancer.
On the other hand, despite many cases could be prevented, the possible side effects later are unknown.
Tags: Finasteride