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Smoking Linked to Complications in Prostate Cancer Treatment

November 5, 2006

• Turning The Tables On Big Tobacco • Senate Approves Bill For FDA Tobacco Regulation • Florida Smoker's Widow Awarded $30 Million • Court Finds Tobacco Companies Lied About Smoking Dangers • California Reinstates Tobacco Fraud Class Action • House Votes to Give FDA Regulatory Power Over Tobacco • Massachusetts Okays Cigarette Class Action Against Philip Morris • House Bill Would Give FDA Tobacco-Regulating Power • Tobacco And Alcohol Worse in Combination • Menthol Cigarettes May Be More Addictive • Supreme Court Clears Suits Over Light Cigarettes • Adult Smoking Rates Show Slight Drop • Racial Disparities Increasing For Cancers Unrelated to Smoking • Not Enough Doctors Trained to Help Smokers Quit • Secondhand Smoke May Hurt Children More Than Adults • Bank Stopped From Enabling Online Tobacco Sales • Study Finds Big Tobacco Exploiting Ad Ban Loophole • Do Tobacco Firms Cut Menthol to Hook Young Smokers? • Wegmans, DeCicco Markets Ditch Cigarettes • Secondhand Smoke Linked To Hospital Admissions • Anti-Smoking Drug Chantix Linked to Seizures, Heart Problems, Diabetes • Congress Moves To Tighten Tobacco Controls • Toddlers Affected Most By Secondhand Smoke at Home • Tobacco 'Innovations' Aimed at Younger Smokers • Heart Attacks Drop After Smoking Ban in Italy • Physician Highlights Hazards of Bartending • Anti-Smoking Suit Targets Restaurants • Smoking Linked to Sleep Disturbances • States Challenge R.J. Reynolds Cigarette Ads • Smokers Cost Taxpayers $10 Billion • Secondhand Smoke a Serious Health Risk • Would Women Rather Smoke Than Get Fat? • Kroger Agrees to Curb Tobacco Sales to Minors • No More Free Smokes in California • Second-Hand Smoke Tied to Lower Test Scores • Secondhand Smoke Bad for Pets • Researchers Link Smoking To Dementia • Smoking Turns On Genes -- Permanently • Bill Targets Online Cigarette Sellers • UK Tries Nicotine Patches on Pregnant Smokers • More Toxins Found in Smokers' Children --- • More about Smoking & Health

Smoking has been found to contribute to poorer outcomes for people treated for many kinds of cancer and now, researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have associated smoking and acute side-effects following radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

The study was presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Philadelphia.

For the study, researchers analyzed the impact of smoking on gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) side effects for 1,194 patients with prostate cancer treated at Fox Chase Cancer Center with 3D conformal radiation therapy between 1991 and 2001.

Smoking information collected prior to treatment included status as a current smoker, ex-smoker or non-smoker. Patients treated with androgen deprivation prior to or during treatment were excluded.

"Our patients who smoked during treatment reported having more acute gastrointestinal side-effects such as diarrhea," said Niraj Pahlajani, M.D., lead author on the study and a resident in the radiation oncology department at Fox Chase.

"Fortunately, smoking didn't appear to impact long-term GI side effects or genitourinary side-effects. These results underscore the importance of smoking cessation prior to radiation therapy," the authors said.

Smoking had been implicated in earlier studies with an increased risk of radiation-related side effects in cancers of the head and neck, cervix, lung and breast.

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