According to a new study, radiotherapy can improve the survival rate of men suffering from prostate cancer that has begun to spread outside the prostate. Statistics say that there are about 200,000 men suffering prostate cancer in the United States. 22% of them are having the same conditions similar to patients involved in this study. The results of the study were highlighted at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Dr Padraig Warde, a radiation expert from the University of Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital, the lead author of the study, said “It is this group of patients in whom many of the deaths from prostate cancer occur, because the 
condition is usually incurable” Currently, most of prostate cancer patients are treated using medications that block testosterone, thus reducing the cancer growth. Moreover, about 50% of patients receive radiotherapy in a combination with the medication as a cancer treatment regimen. Although that combination treatment has been applied for many years, very few studies have assessed the effectiveness of the treatment.
In the recent study, 1200 patients were involved, they were undergoing either hormonal and radiotherapy treatment or hormonal treatment alone. Follow up for seven years took place and showed that 74% of patients having combination treatment were still alive, while only 66% of the patients having hormonal treatment only were still living. Dr Jennifer Obel, a cancer specialist at Northshore University Health System in suburban Chicago, commented on the results saying that “radiation is an indispensable element in the treatment of patients with high-risk prostate cancer,”