Prostate cancer is a well-known threat to men. According to the National Cancer Institute, in the United States alone, more than 240,000 new cases have been reported so far this year, and 34,000 deaths. The Canadian Cancer Society estimates 25,500 new cases will be diagnosed this year, and that 4,100 men will die from it.

Common treatment for this sort of cancer is hormone therapy which is used to slow down the spread of cancer cells, to ease the pain, and to shrink the prostate and the tumor. But a recent study found that another form of therapy may greatly improve the odds of curing the disease.

According to Padraig Warde, deputy head of Princess Margaret Hospital Radiation Medicine Program in Toronto, combining radiation therapy with hormone therapy can increase survival rate by 23 percent and disease-specific survival by 43 percent. Because of this, Warde believes that adding radiation to the treatment plan should become part of the standard therapy.

In a randomized study, Warde investigated appropriate treatment for high-risk prostate cancer for more than 1,200 men. Half of the participants received hormone therapy only, while the other half received hormone therapy and radiation.

After seven years, 66 percent of men who had hormone therapy alone were still alive compared with the 74 percent of those who received both therapies. In the hormone-only group, 26 percent died from their prostate cancer as opposed to 10 percent of those who received the combination therapy. The remainder died of other causes.

In addition to their findings, Warde discovered that radiation therapy was tolerated well with no significant toxicity.

However, radiation treatment is known to leave patients with some skin changes: being red, swollen, warm, and sensitive. These changes to the skin can last up to four to six weeks. Long-term side effects, which can last up to a year, include slight darkening of the skin, enlarged pores, increased or decreased sensitivity of the skin and a thickening of the skin.