According to Miami urologist Dr. George Suarez, new studies reveal that smoking doubles the risk that prostate cancer will return post-surgery.
This is a relatively new analysis, but it seems to corroborate results that have been witnessed in many other types of cancer. Essentially, smoking increases the risk of cancer recurrence after initial treatment.
For the study, researchers followed over 7,000 men after they had their prostate gland removed due to cancer. About one-third were current smokers, one-third were past smokers and one-third had never been a smoker.
During the follow-up, current smokers and patients who had only quit smoking within the last ten years were about twice as likely to have their cancer return compared to those who never smoked. Previous smokers had to have quit more than ten years in order to have a considerably lower risk of cancer recurrence.
Your Miami urologist advises that prostate cancer mortality varies widely and the fact that cancer recurrence can differ so radically as a result of smoking is most likely one of the factors that may contribute to differences in prostate cancer mortality.
It’s just another reason not to smoke at all, but the fact that the risk is reduced after ten years means that anyone who has prostate cancer should quit immediately. About one-third of all prostate cancer patients who have their prostate gland removed due to cancer experience a recurrence within ten years.
