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Patients who receive radiation therapy for prostate cancer have a 3.5-times greater risk of developing a second malignancy, according to a study presented here at the 96th Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

"With more treatment options available now for prostate cancer, including radical prostatectomy, hormone therapy, watchful waiting, and brachytherapy, secondary cancers from radiation should be considered for patients with long life expectancies," said Anna M. Leung, MD, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, on October 4.

Leukaemias and lymphomas are also higher in those patients who receive radiation for prostate cancer, Dr. Leung added.

In the study, 3,481 cases of prostate cancer diagnosed between 1990 and 2000 were retrieved from the tumour registry of the Veterans' Administration. Of those 2,729 patients were not treated with radiation, while 752 patients did receive radiation therapy.

Of the patients who did not receive radiation, 242 (or 8.8%) developed a second malignancy following radiation therapy. On the other hand, of the patients who received radiation, 112 (or 14.8%) developed a second malignancy.

Researchers also examined second malignancies in the field of radiation. Approximately the same number of patients in both groups developed new tumours in the area where they were radiated, even though there were more patients in the group that did not receive radiation. There were 28 patients in the group that didn't receive radiation that developed new malignancies in the area, compared with 27 in the group that did get the radiation.

Of the secondary malignancies, 78% were in the rectum, compared with 33% in the bladder, according to Dr. Leung.

The relative risk for all secondary malignancies for those who got radiation was 1.68, and that for tumours in the radiation field was 3.5.

Source: ACS

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