Because so many treatments are relatively new, there are not yet reliable statistics on how mortality rates have been affected. Regardless of the type of treatment, early detection is important. The only difficulty is we need to know for sure that the men treated are the ones that need to have treatment, because the cures have side effects and you just don't want to treat men who don't need it. A big part of determining which treatment to pursue is determining how fast the cancer is growing. Unfortunately, this is not yet a precise science.
Age also plays a role.
It's more aggressive than that in men in their 70s and 80s. Here, genes that seem to promote the growth of tumors are turned on while genes that suppress growth are turned off. Researchers are hopeful that they can develop drugs to reverse the switching process. If this is the case, a new breast-cancer drug, Herceptin, may be able to help men with advanced prostate cancer as well. There are clinical trials under way in several other areas.