Propecia & Cancer?

[HairMe]

hello guys, there is something thats been bugging me ever since i made a research on how finasteride works. After reading that one book, i realise that there is actually a possibility that by taking finasteride, we're actually increasing our chances of having prostate cancer. though it is said that this side effect is kinda rare. I just wanna find out whether there has been such case?

If i made a wrong statement or whatsoever, please enlighten me...
Thanks

 

[Pondle]

No you're reducing your chance of getting prostate cancer.

[In] the seven-year Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT)... men in the Proscar arm had a 24.8% reduced risk of prostate cancer compared with placebo patients. However, they also had a small but statistically significant increase of malignancies with high Gleason scores.

But because of the increased sensitivity of PSA testing with the use of Proscar, the increase in aggressive tumors could only have been expected, wrote Ian Thompson, M.D., of the University of Texas, in the Aug. 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

BTW Avodart is in phase III trials for prevention of prostate cancer.

 

[joseph49853]

Finasteride can help to reduce instances of prostate cancer. Yet, those developing cancers can actually become far more aggressive under finasteride treatment. Finasteride treatment can also lead to high grade tumors or metastatic diseases. And of course erectile dysfunction and loss of libido also increases under finasteride treatment. I guess you pick your poison in the name of vanity.

And always remember, if you think you aren't hearing the whole story, you probably aren't.

 

[Felk]

Not to be fear mongerer or anything (as joseph says it's best to hear all of the story) but Ive read one paper which has a different and far more serious take on the whole gynocomastia problem. It was a case of finasteride induced breast cancer. Now it was only one case, but the authors of the paper still advised that it would be wise to inform finasteride users to monitor changes in their breasts, and to report anything to their doctor

 

[HairMe]

so, its not prostate cancer. instead it causes breast cancer?

 

[Felk]

No, my comments were independent of it's effect on prostate cancer, not as a substitute.

 

[Pondle]

so, its not prostate cancer. instead it causes breast cancer?

Correlation is not the same thing as causation.

During the 4- to 6-year placebo- and comparator-controlled MTOPS study that enrolled 3047 men, there were 4 cases of breast cancer in men treated with finasteride but no cases in men not treated with
finasteride. During the 4-year, placebo-controlled PLESS study that enrolled 3040 men, there were 2 cases of breast cancer in placebo-treated men, but no cases were reported in men treated with finasteride. The relationship between long-term use of finasteride and male breast neoplasia is currently unknown.

If you are totally paranoid about the drug, don't take it.

 

[Pondle]

Finasteride can help to reduce instances of prostate cancer. Yet, those developing cancers can actually become far more aggressive under finasteride treatment. Finasteride treatment can also lead to high grade tumors or metastatic diseases. And of course erectile dysfunction and loss of libido also increases under finasteride treatment. I guess you pick your poison in the name of vanity.

And always remember, if you think you aren't hearing the whole story, you probably aren't.

Finasteride does not 'cause' high grade prostate cancer. :roll: The reason for the greater reporting of high grade cancers in the Proscar treatment group was something called ascertainment bias. The story below explains in more detail.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyO ... er/tb/3942

 

[joseph49853]

Perhaps the original study titled, "Finasteride reduced prostate cancer but led to high grade tumours and sexual side effects" never made it here, but rolling eyes certainly have. I'm interested as to how so many non-sufferers regularly make it to the side effect forum. However, you won't find many cheerleaders in here.

I wouldn't even be so quick to interpret the original study any differently. There was never a single examination of the biopsy tissue before and after the finasteride treatment. These follow-ups at the studies' completion were mainly indirect based on three pathologists using parameters that might just be faulty.

I believe they merely extrapolated based on the prostate volume of the general population. This is based on a proposition that those with smaller prostates generally experience a greater disposition to high-grade cancer. Undocumented patients supplementing with soy or flax product could have unknowingly skewed these supposed clarifications without initial biopsies.

These biases will need long-term follow-up exams with the initial participants before anything can be clearly delineated. I think this is something with which even Dr. Andriole agrees; which btw, I notice his partial sponsorship through Glaxo, tending to make me quizzical. So even if PSA testing has gained greater accuracy, there's still no easy way to determine between aggressive and potentially lethal cancers. Unless we now believe that a high Gleason score with a low PSA is somehow a good sign.

However, you're free to ingest whatever drug and information you choose. Meanwhile, based on my own intuition and troubling personal experience with finasteride, it's a drug to avoid for me. I don't need to interminably wait for any follow-up studies.

 

[Pondle]

I wouldn't even be so quick to interpret the original study any differently.

We are talking about only one study, Thompson IM, Goodman PJ, Tangen CM, et al.The influence of finasteride on the development of prostate cancer.N Engl J Med 2003;349:215–24. "Finasteride reduced prostate cancer but led to more high grade tumours and sexual side effects" was the title the BMJ used in a piece about the study, not the title of the original research.

I fail to see any problems of logic here: The fact that the increased hazard ratio for detecting high-grade tumors appeared early and did not increase with time was inconsistent with the theory that Proscar induced high-grade disease. Another article I've seen commented that finasteride may be treating subclinical microscopic cancer as well as delaying the onset of prostate cancer. That might accord with the finding of higher grades of cancer with finasteride.

Avodart as well as Proscar seems to have a preventive effect on prostate cancer - which is why it's in phase III for this very indication.

I believe they merely extrapolated based on the prostate volume of the general population. This is based on a proposition that those with smaller prostates generally experience a greater disposition to high-grade cancer.

Extrapolated what? I'm unclear as to the point you're making. Are you saying that the methodology for the detection of prostate cancer in the study was flawed? And are you really saying that a few guys taking soy supplements could seriously skew the findings of a multi-thousand man seven year trial?

 

[k3nn7i]

you guys really surprised me with your knowledge.