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Best Treatment for Enlarged Prostate
Aired December 18, 2003 - 06:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In health news this morning, a new study in the "New England Journal of Medicine" looks at the best treatment for an enlarged prostate. It turns out that two drugs together are better than one.
Dr. Sandra Fryhofer is here with details -- so, this is a very common condition in men, isn't it?
DR. SANDRA FRYHOFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a very common condition and, in fact, by age 50, about 50 percent of all men have an enlarged prostate. Now, some men have symptoms that are worse than others. Symptoms can include things like a change in the urinary stream, hesitancy, having to get up a lot at night to go to the bathroom. But in some men, the symptoms get so severe that they can't urinate at all.
Now, in the past we had to -- we've looked for surgery to improve these symptoms, but now we use medications. There are several different classes of medications out there, but which works best and do they work better in combination?
Well, that's what this new study wanted to find out.
The researchers looked at 3,000 men that had enlarged prostates. They gave them one of the popular drugs in each of the families, either a medication called Cardura or Proscar or a combination of both and compared them to men taking a placebo. And here's what they found after four years of treatment.
Men on Proscar alone had an overall 34 percent decrease in the risk of progression. Cardura alone reduced overall progression by 39 percent. But combining the drugs worked even better. It provided the greatest relief of symptoms and cut the overall risk of progression by 66 percent.
So it seems that these, the combination of the medications could actually keep some men from having to have surgery.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
Now, are those medications common or are they different from the norm?
FRYHOFER: Well, these are common medications. There are two different classes, Carol. Let's explain what they are. The first one, the Cardura, is an alpha blocker. It was originally used as a blood pressure medication. It actually is a muscle relaxer and it helps with the symptoms, but it doesn't actually shrink the prostate. The other family is an alpha reductase inhibitor. Proscar is one in this family. It shrinks the prostate, but it takes about six to 12 months for it to do its work. The down side? It can cause some problems with libido and erectile problems.
COSTELLO: And we heard about Colin Powell having surgery for prostate cancer.
Does an enlarged prostate always lead to cancer or?
FRYHOFER: No. No. This is benign prostatic hypertrophy, which means it's benign. It cannot and will not turn into cancer. But you can have an enlarged prostate and cancer at the same time.
Now, I also want to point out, we talked about Proscar. There -- men that are taking Proscar have a reduced introduced of prostate cancer. But if they do get prostate cancer, it's a higher grade lesion. It has a higher Gleason score. So that's important to note.
Also, the researchers in the study, the majority of them had links to the drug company manufacturers and so we -- they looked at a popular medication in each of these families, but there are other medications in those families that would probably work just as well.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
FRYHOFER: But good news for men. Now we know the best treatment for that enlarged prostate.
COSTELLO: A combination of medications.
FRYHOFER: Combinations.
COSTELLO: All right, Dr. Sandy Fryhofer, many thanks to you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 18, 2003 - 06:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In health news this morning, a new study in the "New England Journal of Medicine" looks at the best treatment for an enlarged prostate. It turns out that two drugs together are better than one.
Dr. Sandra Fryhofer is here with details -- so, this is a very common condition in men, isn't it?
DR. SANDRA FRYHOFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a very common condition and, in fact, by age 50, about 50 percent of all men have an enlarged prostate. Now, some men have symptoms that are worse than others. Symptoms can include things like a change in the urinary stream, hesitancy, having to get up a lot at night to go to the bathroom. But in some men, the symptoms get so severe that they can't urinate at all.
Now, in the past we had to -- we've looked for surgery to improve these symptoms, but now we use medications. There are several different classes of medications out there, but which works best and do they work better in combination?
Well, that's what this new study wanted to find out.
The researchers looked at 3,000 men that had enlarged prostates. They gave them one of the popular drugs in each of the families, either a medication called Cardura or Proscar or a combination of both and compared them to men taking a placebo. And here's what they found after four years of treatment.
Men on Proscar alone had an overall 34 percent decrease in the risk of progression. Cardura alone reduced overall progression by 39 percent. But combining the drugs worked even better. It provided the greatest relief of symptoms and cut the overall risk of progression by 66 percent.
So it seems that these, the combination of the medications could actually keep some men from having to have surgery.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
Now, are those medications common or are they different from the norm?
FRYHOFER: Well, these are common medications. There are two different classes, Carol. Let's explain what they are. The first one, the Cardura, is an alpha blocker. It was originally used as a blood pressure medication. It actually is a muscle relaxer and it helps with the symptoms, but it doesn't actually shrink the prostate. The other family is an alpha reductase inhibitor. Proscar is one in this family. It shrinks the prostate, but it takes about six to 12 months for it to do its work. The down side? It can cause some problems with libido and erectile problems.
COSTELLO: And we heard about Colin Powell having surgery for prostate cancer.
Does an enlarged prostate always lead to cancer or?
FRYHOFER: No. No. This is benign prostatic hypertrophy, which means it's benign. It cannot and will not turn into cancer. But you can have an enlarged prostate and cancer at the same time.
Now, I also want to point out, we talked about Proscar. There -- men that are taking Proscar have a reduced introduced of prostate cancer. But if they do get prostate cancer, it's a higher grade lesion. It has a higher Gleason score. So that's important to note.
Also, the researchers in the study, the majority of them had links to the drug company manufacturers and so we -- they looked at a popular medication in each of these families, but there are other medications in those families that would probably work just as well.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
FRYHOFER: But good news for men. Now we know the best treatment for that enlarged prostate.
COSTELLO: A combination of medications.
FRYHOFER: Combinations.
COSTELLO: All right, Dr. Sandy Fryhofer, many thanks to you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
