Dec. 31, 2006
 
HEALTH: Hair Growth Drug Alters Prostate Tests
 
By Lee Bowman
Scripps Howard News Service
 
The popular hair growth drug Propecia, taken by millions of balding men, artificially lowers the results of the screening test for prostate cancer by about half, according to a recent study.
 
The study involved 306 men ranging in age from 40 to 60 recruited at 12 medical centers around the United States. It was released online by the British medical publication Lancet.Oncology this month, and will be in print early next year.
 
The drug, also known as finasteride, was originally developed as a treatment for enlarged prostates. But the Food and Drug Administration later approved it at a lower dose as a treatment for male pattern baldness since tests showed men taking it for their prostate re-grew hair as a side effect.
 
While researchers had known for years that the testosterone metabolism responsible for prostate growth also causes male pattern baldness, the new study was done to better quantify the actual effects.
 
It had been well-established that when men taking the prostate treatment drug, Proscar, take a PSA test, doctors need to double the test result. The new study showed that they need to do the same thing in men who have been taking Propecia for more than a few weeks.
 
"The impact of finasteride on PSA levels is significant," said Dr. Claus Roehrborn, chairman of urology at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center and co-leader of the Lancet study.
 
"This needs to be realized by all internists, family care doctors, dermatologists _ anybody who writes prescriptions for male pattern hair loss."
 
The study was funded by Merck and Co., which makes finasteride.
 
Half the men in the study took Propecia for 48 weeks; the other half got a placebo. PSA levels were measured in all the men both before they began taking the pills and at the end of 48 weeks and compared.
 
"It's not universally known that finasteride lowers PSA levels in younger men who take it for hair growth," Roehrborn said, and sometimes men who get a prescription for Propecia from one doctor may neglect to tell another that is managing a prostate screening.
 
"When doctors ask for their patients' medical history, they need to ask if they have taken any drugs for hair loss, and if they have taken finasteride, the doctors need to multiply the PSA readings by two,'' the researcher said.
 
On the Net: www.thelancet.com
 
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