A study that was led by scientists from the John Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center has revealed that men that have chronic inflammation of the prostate tissue might have close to fifty percent more risk of developing prostate cancer in comparison to men who do not suffer from the inflammation.
Scientists were able to found a link that was even stronger between men that have persistent inflammation and prostate cancers that are quick growing and more aggressive.
The difference this study has with previous ones is the team of scientists examined the prostate tissues of men who had not previously undergone a biopsy due to elevated antigen levels in the prostate.
One of the authors of the study said that most men who have a biopsy do so because of having elevated levels of PSA. The problem with using these men for a study of this type is that the inflammation can cause injury to the prostate and elevate the levels of PSA independently from whether or not person has cancer.
Members of the study analyzed the Prostate Cancer Trial that was seven years in length and large scale and wanted to determine if finasteride, the hair growth medication could help reduce prostate cancer occurrence.
The group from John Hopkins examined tissue that was benign from 191 biopsies of men that had prostate cancer as well as from 209 men that did not have cancer.
The group discovered that over 86% of the men who had prostate cancer had a minimum of one sample of tissue that showed signs of inflammation. That was compared to only 78% of men who were cancer free.
By then reviewing the final outcomes health wise of the selected participants from the trial, the researchers were able to determine that men who had at least one sample of tissue showing chronic inflammation signs had a 1.78 times higher risk of developing a form of prostate cancer than men who did not experience inflammation, and risk 2.24 higher of developing the aggressive form of prostate cancer.
The link of inflammation remained even in men with low levels of PSA when the biopsies were taken.
