Prostate carcinoma patients can get relief with combo

A combination of docetaxel and estramustine, the cancer drugs, can prove to be an effective option for offering relief to patients afflicted with prostate carcinoma (cancer) and not making expected responds to hormone therapy and whose cancer has spread to other body parts.

Derek Raghavan, M.D., director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center, and co-author of the study, said that patients administered with docetaxel and prednisone had a better outcome throughout the survival curve.

From News-medical.net:

The study found that patients who received a combination of docetaxel and estramustine experienced an improvement in their survival rate vs. those treated with mitoxantrone, another cancer drug, and prednisone, a type of steroid.
“This work will be important in shaping future drug strategies in treating patients with advanced, hormone-resistant prostate cancer, as no prior study has shown an improvement in their median or overall survival,” said Derek Raghavan, M.D., director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center, and co-author of the study. Dr. Raghavan is one of the leaders of the Genitourinary Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group, the team that conducted the study. The physicians at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center are members of this cooperative cancer research group.

This finding was disclosed by a study published in an issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.