Four months of androgen deprivation combined with external beam radiation slowed growth of prostate cancer—especially bone metastases—by up to eight years, according to a long term study from the University of California in San Francisco and collaborating sites (Journal of Clinical Oncology 2008 Jan 2 doi: 10.1200/JCO.2007.13.9881).

The study, which began in 1987, evaluated 456 men at high risk, with a median age of 70. They had large prostate tumours (5 by 5 cm), and many had high Gleason scores (7-10) indicating that cells were higher grade and usually more aggressive, and high concentrations …