An increasingly popular prostate cancer treatment also makes bones brittle and may be responsible for over 3,000 fractures each year in the United States, researchers reported on Wednesday.The treatment calls for blocking the effects of the male hormone testosterone, either with drugs or by castration. Until now, doctors have regarded the treatment as relatively harmless, Vahakn Shahinian, chief author of the new research, told Reuters.He said that given the new findings, doctors and patients should be aware of the risks of the therapy, which seems to slow the growth of prostate tumors, but may not always help patients live longer.The findings, reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine, add another layer of complexity to the already-difficult question of how best to treat prostate cancer, which strikes 220,000 U.S. men each year.
