TREATMENT OF PROSTATE-CANCER

The incidence of prostate cancer has increased constantly over the las t years, Treatment, whatever the stage of disease, remains controversi al, Poor prognosis in patients with a localized tumor and lymph node m etastases usually excludes curative therapy. Simple resection could be a reasonable option in cases with well or moderately well differentia ted localized cancer, especially if life expectancy is less than 10 ye ars, The real problem is to identity potentially aggressive cancers si nce an improvement in quality of life is an important element in carin g for patients with cancer of the prostate. Survival rate at 15 years in patients with localized tumors after total prostatectomy appears to be comparable with that in the general population of the same age wit hout cancer of the prostate, Conformational radiotherapy could allow m ore extensive irradiation of the prostate gland without touching the n eighboring organs (rectum, bladder, head of the femoral bone). The dos e should reach 80 Gy. Hormone treatment is currently used as first int ention treatment in patients with metastase prostate cancer, Response rate is approximately 80%, Within 2 years, 8 out of 10 patients develo p hormone resistance, Complete androgen suppression could improve surv ival times and quality of life in approximately 15% of the patients, a lthough it is not possible at the present time to identify prior to tr eatment those patients who are susceptible responders. Chemotherapy ha s not been shown to be particularly effective in hormone-resistant can cer of the prostate. Prevention of cancer of the prostate is the next step to be accomplished.