Fanasteride and Agressive Prostate Cancer

[RSG]

Hi Guys,

I started using propecia and rogaine 5% about 6 months ago, and started noticing satisfactory results. However i visited my derm about 2 weeks ago and he highly recommended i drop propeica. He warned me that, in studies he had come across, taking fanasteride (5mg i think) was linked to increase risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer. That scared the sh*t out of me, and i stopped using propecia straight away.
What do you guys think of this?
I mean i want to tackle the problem of hair loss at its roots. I know rogaine alone won’t combat this. The worst part about this is that I had no sides what so ever while on propecia.
Im 22, and have general thinning. Should i continue to take propecia and not worry about what might happen 40-50yrs down the track?

Thanks

 

[hellohello]

This is covered on these forums EXTENSIVELY. Do a search.

To sum it up, yes there was aggressive tumours reported but there was less of them as well.

It was at 5mg, your taking 1 mg.

NO-ONE knows or can really predict the long term effects of Propecia.

I guess you take it if you thnink its important to keep your hair, if your worried - dont take it.

People who are born without DHT receptors live to the life expectancy, so hopefully it can't be too bad for you.

Hey and if it does cause something, i'm sure theres another drug you can get hooked on to help with it!

 

[bojangles]

This is one of the main things that makes me reluctant to start on finasteride. It's a drug that was originally made for enlarged prostates.....who the hell knows what kind of effect that'll have on a person with a normal prostate after taking it for several years. Could be a big long-term risk for all we know.

 

[Felk]

This is one of the main things that makes me reluctant to start on finasteride. It's a drug that was originally made for enlarged prostates.....who the hell knows what kind of effect that'll have on a person with a normal prostate after taking it for several years. Could be a big long-term risk for all we know.

minoxidil was originally made for heart conditions and it just happened to grow hair. I know its a topical, but it still has side effects like finasteride does.

Also, remember that prostate cancer was treated with five times the dose of what you get from finasteride.

 

[RSG]

So the end question becomes...take or not to take? I really want to target control DHT, but also don't want aggressive prostate cancer.
I'm 22, considering i start propecia, i'll have to take it for 40+ yrs, unless something better comes out, the chances of which dont seem to promising at the moment.
This is so farking confusing.

Thanks guys.

 

[lithebod]

This issue bothered me ALOT when I was considering taking propecia. However after I read this article it made me feel a little more reassured. Essentially what it seems to be saying is that use of 5mg finasteride skewed the gleason scoring system that categorises the relative aggressiveness of prostate cancers and therefore cannot be an absolute indication that using finasteride will inevitably encourage more aggressive cancers.

http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/in ... =2392&UID=

In conclusion, the data demonstrate that finasteride has proven efficacy in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia and has excellent chemopreventive potential in prostate cancer. The concerns about inducing higher-grade cancer appear to be erroneous.


http://www.prostate-cancer.org/educatio ... Alter.html

The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT)
The PCPT trial study followed 18,882 men 55 years of age or older at relatively low risk for prostate cancer (serum PSA below 3.0 ng/ml; asymptomatic; negative digital rectal examination) for up to seven years, and found a 24.8% reduction in the needle biopsy risk of prostate cancer (24.4% vs. 18.4% for finasteride vs. placebo, respectively).12 Tumors of Gleason score 7 or higher were reportedly more common in the finasteride group (37% of all cancers in this group) than in the placebo group (22.2% of cancers).

The disproportionate frequency of Gleason scores 7 and higher is mostly due to a shift from a Gleason pattern of 3 to a pattern of 4, leading to a score of 7 or 8. As discussed by Civantos et al,1 the results seen in PCPT are therefore probably attributable to grading bias rather than an increased risk of aggressive cancer.3 Furthermore, the relative over-interpretation of Gleason score 7 and higher in the finasteride arm is more pronounced in years 1 and 2 of PCPT. Thus, it is more likely due to treatment-induced architectural changes rather than to the de novo development of more aggressive cancer. Were the latter to be the case, one should expect increases in Gleason score 7 and higher cancer as years of treatment increased, but this was not observed in PCPT.

I suggest that cancer aggressiveness after therapy should be determined by other, more objective measures to avoid the likely influence of grading bias. Certainly, finasteride’s remarkable 24.8 percent improvement in chemoprevention of prostate cancer indicated in the PCPT study should not be withheld based on safety concerns about the emergence of aggressive prostate cancer when these concerns are based on available data that is quite likely to be attributable to grading bias.

 

[Guest]

The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) showed at a dosage of 5mg per day, as is commonly prescribed for BPH, though much higher than the 1mg generally prescribed for hair loss, participants taking finasteride were 25% less likely to have developed prostate cancer at the end of the trial compared to those taking a placebo.[2] However, the cancers that developed in the men taking finasteride looked like they were more likely to grow and spread. The reason for this is not known. The study researchers are continuing to watch these men to see if these cancers truly are more aggressive. At lower doses, this effect is less well-defined.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finasteride

 

[Bryan]

I think the bottom-line is that mortality was the same in both groups (finasteride and placebo).

Bryan

 

[hans]

My hypothesis, along with others im assuming, is that the more aggressive prostate tumors that is seen with those that have been taking finasteride is not directly caused by finasteride. I think it's the fact that since taking finasteride prevents the minor to mild cases of prostate tumors, the only possible tumors that we can see with finasteride-users are the more aggressive types.

 

[Felk]

Remember that most of us are taking finasteride here.

Fanasteride was the original drug in question, and we all know what havoc that baby wreaks in a man's prostate...

 

[Brandon Mthson]

Finasteride treatment is temporary. Hair multiplication/cloning should be commercially available within 5-15 years.