“By showing that treatment sequence doesn’t significantly impact the outcome in this case, we hope it will allow health care providers to make treatment plans more convenient for patients.” -Dr. Shawn Malone, radiation oncologist and clinician investigator at The Ottawa Hospital, assistant professor at the University of OttawaA clinical trial led by Dr. Shawn Malone found that prostate cancer patients given hormone therapy prior to radiation therapy had similar outcomes compared with patients in whom both therapies were started simultaneously. 

The relapse-free survival rates for patients 10 years after these treatments were 81 and 87 percent respectively, a difference that was not statistically significant. There was also no significant difference in side-effects between the two treatments. 

This randomized, controlled trial recruited 432 prostate cancer patients between 2002 and 2012. This evidence gives health-care providers more flexibility to make treatment plans that are more convenient for their patients, and therefore more likely to be followed.

“By showing that treatment sequence doesn’t significantly impact the outcome in this case, we hope it will allow health care providers to make treatment plans more convenient for patients.” -Dr. Shawn Malone, radiation oncologist and clinician investigator at The Ottawa Hospital, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa

Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology

Authors: Shawn Malone, Soumyajit Roy, Libni Eapen, Choan E, Robert MacRae, Gad Perry, Julie Bowen, Rajiv Samant, Scott Morgan, Julia Craig, Kyle Malone, Scott Grimes.

Funding: AstraZeneca. Research at The Ottawa Hospital is possible because of generous donations to The Ottawa Hospital Foundation

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa.  

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