Agent Orange exposure increases veterans' risk of recurrence of prostate cancer
Tuesday, April 21, 2009 - 09:00
in Health & Medicine
Veterans exposed to Agent Orange are at increased risk of aggressive recurrence of prostate cancer, researchers report. A study of 1,495 veterans who underwent radical prostatectomy to remove their cancerous prostates showed that the 206 exposed to Agent Orange had nearly a 50 percent increased risk of their cancer recurring despite the fact that their cancer seemed relatively nonaggressive at the time of surgery. And, their cancer came back with a vengeance: the time it took the prostate specific antigen, or PSA, level to double - an indicator of aggressiveness - was eight months versus more than 18 months in non-exposed veterans...
