Blacks with Prostate Cancer Less Likely to Get Ideal Treatment

Black men with riskier prostate cancers may be less likely than their white counterparts to get aggressive treatment that can give them the best survival odds, a recent U.S. study suggests.

Researchers focused on men with medium- and high-risk localized prostate tumors likely to benefit from aggressive treatment like surgery or radiation, rather than the conservative approaches of watchful waiting or hormone therapy often used for men with low-risk tumors.

“Given the evidence suggesting a benefit for treatment in men diagnosed with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer, our findings may explain, to some degree, the differences in survival odds between black and white men diagnosed with prostate cancer,” said lead study author Dr. Quoc-Dien Trinh, co-director of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Prostate Cancer Center in Boston.

Source: REUTERS HEALTH NEWS