HRT helps men beat cancer

Hormone replacement patches worn by women to combat the menopause can also be used to treat men with prostate cancer, experts said yesterday.

Tests show the patches have fewer side-effects than the drugs usually used to treat the disease.

Twenty men with advanced prostate cancer found their conditions improved after using the patches, according to doctors at Imperial College and Hammersmith Hospital, London.

Usual prostate cancer treatments involve reducing levels of the male hormone testosterone, which can encourage growth of cancer cells.

This is done with drugs and, in some cases, by removing testicles. However, side-effects can include brittle bones, impotence and breast growth.

Attempts to lower men's testosterone levels by giving them the female hormone oestrogen were abandoned owing to the risk of blood clotting - but patches have proved more successful. They are also cheaper and could save the NHS millions of pounds a year.

Consultant Paul Abel said: 'We are delighted with the results of this preliminary study. The beauty of patch therapy is that it not only leads to disease regression, it does so with far fewer side-effects.'

Prostate cancer kills 10,000 men in Britain each year. Sufferers have included Sir David Steel, Roger Moore and Lionel Blair.