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Press Release
VA is a Vital Participant in the Largest Study Ever Conducted for the Primary Prevention of Prostate Cancer
For immediate release, July 24, 2001
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Cooperative Studies Program is participating in a National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored study that is the first clinical trial designed to determine if dietary supplements (Vitamin E and selenium) prevent prostate cancer. VA will provide nearly 40 sites and 6,000 patients for the 12-year Selenium Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) that will begin July 25. The study is intended to produce a new understanding of the disease that is a leading cause of cancer deaths among elderly men.
"VA is extremely pleased to collaborate with the NCI on this important clinical trial," said Thomas L. Garthwaite, M.D., VA Under Secretary for Health. "Through the combined resources and efforts of these two federal agencies, we hope to develop significant new insight into the prevention of prostate cancer."
The VA Cooperative Studies Program (CSP), directed by John R. Feussner, M.D., M.P.H., will supply essential study management services in support of SELECT. Its coordinating center in Perry Point, MD, will conduct data management, statistical analysis, and provide administrative support. The CSP Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center in Albuquerque, NM—the nation’s only such publicly funded and clinical research pharmacy approved by the Food and Drug Administration—will coordinate vitamin packaging and distribution for the study. The Massachusetts VA Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC) will be the coordinating office for all VA SELECT sites.
"Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in the VA healthcare system and measures to prevent it would be of great impact to the VA and the nations’ veterans," said Michael Gaziano, M.D., director of MAVERIC.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in the United States and is the leading cause of cancer death among elderly U.S. men. Approximately 209,900 men in the United States are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. Nearly 42,000 deaths result from the disease annually. Prostate cancer rates nationally and in VA are also higher proportionally among African Americans. In 1998, there were more than 600,000 veterans hospitalized in VA medical centers, of which 19% were African Americans. In 1996, 28% of the 5,172 veterans hospitalized in VA medical centers with a principal diagnosis of prostate cancer were African Americans.
Within the main SELECT trial, the VA Cooperative Studies program will also be conducting an independent analysis of possible epidemiological and genetic risk factors for prostate cancer among veteran patients. This additional, veteran-only study will allow VA researchers to study potential important factors that may explain the development of prostate cancer. The main risk factors for prostate cancer include being over age 55, being of African-American heritage, or having a father or brother with prostate cancer. Further investigation of the link between dietary history and other potential factors and the risk of prostate cancer may yield important explanations for the reported racial differences in prostate cancer rates.
For further information, please contact Dan Bruneau at (410) 962-1800 x289 or Christine Amereihn (410) 962-1800 x273.
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