Study Questions Cancer Treatment

A study raised questions about a widely used prostate cancer radiation therapy in cases where there is a high risk the disease will spread. Researchers at Harvard Medical School said a nearly four-year study involving 1,872 men found poorer outcomes for high-risk patients treated by implanting radioactive “seeds” in the gland, compared with those treated more aggressively. The study, published in Chicago in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., found that high-risk patients who had radioactive implant therapy were at more than a twofold risk of having their cancer spread, compared with those who underwent a radical prostatectomy--removal of the gland and some surrounding tissue.