Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK, with 1 in 8 being diagnosed with the illness. Researchers at Duke Cancer Institute have discovered that where the cancer spreads to has a direct impact on how long a person will survive.

8,736 men with metastatic prostate cancer were analysed by Susan Halabi Ph.D. and colleagues from leading US and international cancer research centres. Patients where cancer has spread to the liver have the shortest survival rate, in contrast to lymph nodes who have the longest. The patients had all undergone standard treatment with the chemotherapy drug docetaxel.

"Smaller studies had given doctors and patients indications that the site of metastasis in prostate cancer affects survival, but prevalence rates in organ sites were small, so it was difficult to provide good guidance," said Susan Halabi, Ph.D., professor of biostatistics at Duke and lead author of the study published online March 7 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"With the large numbers we analysed in our study, we were able to compare all of these different sites and provide information that could be helpful in conveying prognosis to patients," Halabi said.

Nearly 73% of patients had bone metastases, and their overall median survival was just over 21 months.

Men with lymph, the smallest subset 6.4%, had the longest median survival at about 32 months. Men with liver metastasis represented 8.6% of the study, and had the worst median survival of nearly 14 months.

Men with lung metastases had a survival time of 19 months, and represented 9.1% of patients.

According to Halabi more research is needed to understand how and why prostate cancer spreads to different organs.