HRT Patches ( Daily Mail 8th Feb 2005 )

[Guest guest]

HUNDREDS of men suffering from prostate cancer could be spared the added misery of brittle bone disease by taking female HRT.

Trials using hormone replacement therapy patches for osteoporosis have gone extremely well, say British researchers. Prostate cancer treatment involves the suppression of the male hormone testosterone so that it doesn't act as 'food' for the cancer cells.

Doctors at London's Hammersmith Hospital have proved that HRT patches can help slow advanced-stage prostate cancer. Now they have shown it can also protect bones. Without testosterone, which is involved in bone-building and repair, there is a high risk of osteoporosis. This disease has traditionally been more common in women but it is on the rise in prostate cancer patients who survive for a longtime. HRT patches are traditionally used to relieve menopausal symptoms in women.

When tested on men, they increased bone density in the 20 men treated by an average of more than three per cent after a year.

At the same time their tumours were also shrinking because giving them oestrogen cuts down testosterone production. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, affecting 27,000 in the UK each year and killing 10,000.

'Patients on conventional prostate cancer treatment can lose up to ten per cent of bone mass as a side-effect in the first year of treatment alone,' says Dr Abel, a consultant urologist at Hammersmith Hospital and lead researcher on the project.

'As long as treatment continues, so does bone loss, with a corresponding increasing risk of bone fracture.

'The considerable promise of oestrogen in advanced prostate cancer treatment has already been reported by our team, but the additional benefit of preventing bone loss is extremely exciting news.'

While use of HRT patches can cause breast growth, the team believe the side effect is outweighed by the benefits, says Dr Abel. The team is now bidding for funding for a larger study, with the backing of the Medical Research Council.

'This is a very important piece of research, because more and more men are surviving with their cancer,' says Dr Hiley of the Prostate Cancer Charity. 'They need protection from some of the drugs that are effective against the cancer but have these side effects which so seriously affect the quality of life.'