"For men who have prostate cancer thats considered intermediate risk radiation plus four months of hormone therapy appears to improve survival a new study finds. This combination of treatments however was not effective in men with either lowrisk prostate cancer or advanced disease the researchers said. Men with highrisk cancer need longterm hormone therapy. The hormone therapy is known as androgen deprivation therapy. Its designed to reduce the levels of male hormones androgens in the body since they can stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells. For patients with early localized cancer of the prostate who were treated with radiation therapy by adding shortterm androgen deprivation therapy we improved their cure rates and increased their chance of living  years from  percent to  percent said lead researcher Dr. Christopher U. Jones from Radiological Associates of Sacramento Calif. But when the researchers looked closely at those findings they found that patients with lowrisk prostate cancer did not need hormone therapy because the chance they would survive with radiation alone was already almost  percent Jones said. And while short term hormonal therapy is not very toxic there are still some toxicities Jones noted. We dont want to treat any man unnecessarily with that type of treatment. We really want to make sure  if we are going to recommend that treatment  the person really needs it he said. On the other hand hormone therapy plus radiation was most effective in patients with intermediaterisk prostate cancer. We decreased the risk of dying from prostate cancer in those patients from  percent to  percent at  years Jones said. For patients with highrisk prostate cancer using hormone therapy for just a short while is not effective he added. We know from other studies that shortterm androgen deprivation therapy isnt enough. You need to give longterm androgen deprivation therapy in addition to radiation to have the best results Jones said. The report was published in the July  issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. For the study Jones team randomly assigned almost  men with prostate cancer to radiation therapy alone or in combination with four months of hormone therapy. The hormone therapy started two months before radiation. Side effects of male hormone therapy can include erectile dysfunction impotence loss of sex drive hot flashes growth of breast tissue loss of muscle and bone mass weight gain nausea liver problems fatigue memory problems and mood swings. In October  the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked manufacturers to add a warning that certain drugs used in hormone therapy including the one used in the study were linked to a small but increased risk of diabetes heart attack stroke and sudden death in men. In this study men treated with hormone therapy experienced a much higher percentage of liver damage toxic effects of radiation treatment were similar in both groups. Over an average of over nine years of followup  percent of the men who had combination therapy were alive compared with  percent of the men who received radiation therapy alone the researchers found. Overall hormone therapy reduced the risk of dying from prostate cancer over  years from  percent to  percent Jones said. He noted that the radiation treatments in use today differ from those given in  when the trial began. We can give  to  percent higher doses of radiation now than we could then and we can do it more safely and more accurately he said. So that brings into question how much if any hormone therapy is needed he added. An ongoing trial among patients with intermediate risk prostate cancer aims to answer that question Jones said. We are going to find out if androgen deprivation therapy still applies to patients treated with modern techniques he said.  This study in conjunction with what we know about hormonal therapy really nails home the conclusion that hormonal therapy should not be used in men with lowrisk disease because the risks outweigh any conceivable benefit commented Dr. Anthony DAmico chief of radiation oncology at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston and author of an accompanying journal editorial. DAmico noted that new studies using uptodate highdose radiation also found that the addition of shortterm hormone therapy improved outcomes at five years for men with intermediate risk prostate cancer compared with radiation alone. If you are in the lowrisk category stay away from hormone therapy. It does no good. It can hurt DAmico said. If you have anything beyond lowrisk prostate cancer the hormonal therapy helps he said. Its just a matter of how long you need it for. It could be four months six months or longer. These findings are good news for some men since the effects of short term of hormone therapy are reversible DAmico said. Its not three years where men are changed forever he said. More information For more information on prostate cancer visit the American Cancer Society http SOURCES Christopher U. Jones M.D. Radiological Associates of Sacramento Calif. Anthony DAmico M.D. Ph.D chief radiation oncology Brigham and Womens Hospital Boston July   New England Journal of Medicine"