Hemoglobin Testing Shows Prostate Treatment Response

A new study has demonstrated that testing hemoglobin levels can show how men with advanced prostate cancer are responding to treatment. This finding was presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association in Atlanta (GA, USA) in May 2006.

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute (Portland, OR, USA) found that worsening anemia during the first three months of hormonal therapy for prostate cancer patients whose disease has spread is a predictor of shorter survival and earlier relapse. Testing hemoglobin levels during this time enables doctors to monitor anemia and reveal how a patient is faring.

Anemia is common among newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients with metastatic disease. Previous studies have shown that men who are anemic prior to treatment experience shorter survival and are prone to early relapse. One recent study showed that a decrease in hemoglobin after only one month of treatment predicts early relapse in men with high-risk prostate cancer that has not spread.

Overall, researchers found that anemic black men fared worse than anemic white men, and that black men with high baseline hemoglobin fared better than whites with similar hemoglobin levels.

"Outcomes for prostate cancer have always been worse for black men than their white counterparts and the reasons behind this have not been fully understood,” said Tomasz Beer, M.D., director of the prostate cancer research program at the OHSU Cancer Institute. "Further study is needed to fully understand the underlying biology of this effect and to determine if reversing anemia can improve survival in patients with advanced prostate cancer.”



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