The long-term quality of life of men who have survived prostate cancer varies significantly depending on the main treatment they received, a new Irish study has found.

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer found in men. Every year in Ireland, over 2,000 men are newly diagnosed with the disease and currently, there are more men living with this type of cancer than any other.

Researchers from the National Cancer Registry (NCR) and the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry carried out a study involving almost 3,400 men who were between two and 18 years post-diagnosis.

This is one of the largest population-based studies of prostate cancer survivors ever carried out globally.

The researchers focused on the long-term health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of these survivors. They found that after looking at other influencing factors, the overall HRQoL of these men differed significantly depending on the primary treatment they had received.

The study found that participants who had received just hormone therapy, or hormone therapy in conjunction with radiotherapy, had a much lower HRQoL than those who had received a radical prostatectomy - an operation to remove the prostate gland and some of the tissue around it.

Furthermore, the quality of life of men who received brachytherapy (internal radiation therapy), radiotherapy with hormone treatment, or active surveillance, was not much different from men who underwent a radical prostatectomy.

Overall, those treated with brachytherapy had the highest quality of life scores, while those treated with hormone therapy had the lowest scores.

Meanwhile, the study also found that men experienced very different general symptoms depending on the treatment they received, ranging from pain, fatigue and loss of appetite to sexual and bowel problems.

The researchers concluded that more comprehensive information on the potential effects of different treatments on a person's long-term quality of life should be provided during the treatment decision-making process.

"The number of men living with and after prostate cancer is rapidly increasing. Understanding more about what life is really like for these men is crucial if we are to make sure all men with prostate cancer can make truly informed treatment choices, and achieve the best possible quality of life during and after their care," commented Dr Sarah Cant, director of policy and strategy at Prostate Cancer UK, which funded the study along with the Health Research Board.

She added that these findings provide ‘some much needed insight' into the impact that prostate cancer can have on men in Ireland.

"We will be building on these findings by funding research to further understand what impact prostate cancer has on the lives of men and what care is needed to reduce that impact."

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship.