On Par With Your Peers

Although researchers aren't sure whether HIV-positive men are more prone to developing prostate cancer than their uninfected peers, there is some good news for those diagnosed with the ailment. HIV infection does not seem to accelerate cancer progression or impede prostate cancer treatments, particularly radiation therapy, according to two new studies. Data have shown that radiotherapy is as effective in killing prostate cancer cells -- and carries the same complication risks -- in both HIV-negative and HIV-positive men. Radiation treatment also had no adverse impact on HIV or CD4-cell counts in the seropositive men studied.