Nelson Vergel
Founder, ExcelMale.com
One year ago, German researchers published a single-center study of 4752 men with prostate cancer that showed an association between the use of erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs (after radical prostatectomy) and biochemical recurrence.
"The study made quite a splash," said Stacy Loeb, MD, a urologist at New York University in New York City, who was not involved with the German research.
Some clinicians had a subsequent "hesitation" to use these drugs because of "concern that the finding was real," she told Medscape Medical News.
The drugs, known as phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5i), are a first-line treatment for the ED that commonly occurs after prostatectomy.
Last year, the German researchers said they were "astonished" by the link between the use of a PDE5i and biochemical recurrence after prostatectomy. They had theorized that the ED drugs would be protective.
In their new study, Dr Loeb and a team of international researchers decided to take another look at the issue.
But they used bigger, more authoritative data sources from Sweden: the nationwide population-based National Prostate Cancer Register, and the Prescribed Drug Register.
Of the men with localized prostate cancer who underwent primary radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy in 2006 or 2007 and who had 5 years of follow-up, the investigators identified 293 who had a biochemical recurrence after treatment and 5767 control subjects who did not.
PDE5i pills were used after treatment by 150 (51%) men in the recurrence group and 3334 (58%) in the control group. The pills used included sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra), and tadalafil (Cialis).
"We found no significant relationship between PDE5i use with prostate cancer recurrence after treatment," Dr Loeb and her colleagues conclude in their study, which was published online December 30, 2015 in European Urology.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/858183?src=wnl_edit_tpal
"The study made quite a splash," said Stacy Loeb, MD, a urologist at New York University in New York City, who was not involved with the German research.
Some clinicians had a subsequent "hesitation" to use these drugs because of "concern that the finding was real," she told Medscape Medical News.
The drugs, known as phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5i), are a first-line treatment for the ED that commonly occurs after prostatectomy.
Last year, the German researchers said they were "astonished" by the link between the use of a PDE5i and biochemical recurrence after prostatectomy. They had theorized that the ED drugs would be protective.
In their new study, Dr Loeb and a team of international researchers decided to take another look at the issue.
But they used bigger, more authoritative data sources from Sweden: the nationwide population-based National Prostate Cancer Register, and the Prescribed Drug Register.
Of the men with localized prostate cancer who underwent primary radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy in 2006 or 2007 and who had 5 years of follow-up, the investigators identified 293 who had a biochemical recurrence after treatment and 5767 control subjects who did not.
PDE5i pills were used after treatment by 150 (51%) men in the recurrence group and 3334 (58%) in the control group. The pills used included sildenafil (Viagra), vardenafil (Levitra), and tadalafil (Cialis).
"We found no significant relationship between PDE5i use with prostate cancer recurrence after treatment," Dr Loeb and her colleagues conclude in their study, which was published online December 30, 2015 in European Urology.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/858183?src=wnl_edit_tpal
