Now, in the largest and longest study of its kind, urologists at Johns Hopkins have developed a simple method for assessing the risk these men have for developing deadly metastatic cancer. And the first thing doctors want to know is what type of treatment the patient needs. Up until now, there hasn't been any way to know. From this information, they developed a chart doctors and patients can use to pinpoint the risk for developing metastatic cancer, which typically invades the bones of men with prostate cancer. When men see their PSA levels rise again, they think that means the cancer is back and they need to get treated right away.
Patients often live for years without having the cancer spread.
This information will better equip doctors and their patients to decide what treatment, if any, is most appropriate. The study is critical for future drug research as well, says Partin, because it provides essential baseline data. Now, researchers can compare their treatment groups with our study group and tell if their treatment is improving survival. After developing metastatic cancer, as confirmed by imaging techniques like bone scans, the average time to death was five years. However, men who developed metastasis eight or more years following surgery had a much better outlook.