July 26, 2005 -- What’s the risk of dying when prostate cancer comes back after treatment? Two new studies point to who’s at high risk and who isn’t.A crucial difference, the two new studies suggest, is how fast blood levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) go up.Anthony V. D’Amico, MD, PhD, chief of genitourinary radiation oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, led a study of 358 men who underwent radiation therapy. His team looked at whether prediagnosis changes in PSA predicted a man’s risk of dying from prostate cancer. The findings confirmed the results of an earlier study of men who underwent prostate surgery.
