The Health Science Center’s Department of Urology researchers were among those recognized with a CapCURE Award for their study of high-grade tumors found in men who participated in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT). The study was conducted with collaborators at the University of Colorado and several other institutions.
The PCPT, reported in 2003 in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that the drug finasteride reduced incidence of prostate cancer by nearly 25 percent. In 2004, also in the Journal, researchers presented a follow-up study that showed 15 percent of PCPT participants with PSA scores considered to be in the normal range or below actually had prostate cancer on biopsy, including some with aggressive or high-grade tumors.
At the AUA meeting, Ian M. Thompson Jr., M.D., professor and chairman of the department of urology and holder of the Health Science Center’s Henry B. and Edna Smith Dielmann Memorial Chair, presented results of a clinical trial of adjuvant radiotherapy for prostate cancer. The study, begun 17 years ago, is now complete and shows that radiation therapy given to high-risk men after surgery reduces risk of cancer recurrence by 50 percent.
Javier Hernandez, M.D., of the Department of Urology, presented the results of the first study to recognize the association of body mass index and PSA levels, a study that shows that among obese men, lower PSA levels may mask cancer detection. He also discussed the results of a study of a genetic marker that is associated with increased risk of prostate cancer among African-American men.
Dr. Thompson is a member of the Cancer Prevention and Population Science (CPPS) program of the San Antonio Cancer Institute (SACI), an NCI-designated Cancer Center that is a partnership between the Health Science Center and the Cancer Therapy and Research Center in San Antonio. One of the goals of the CPPS program is to improve survival rates among men at risk of prostate cancer by prevention, early detection, and discovery of new tests for prostate cancer.