A latest study authored by Vanderbilt University researchers has disclosed that heart disease is the most common non-cancer death cause in prostate cancer survivors.

Knowing this, the cardio-oncology program of the university has decided to shift its focus on toning down the heart disease risk factors in patients, mainly the ones receiving the prostate cancer treatment known as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

Dr. Eric Shinohara, a radiation oncologist and a medical director at the university said that though ADT therapy is quite beneficial for a lot of patients with prostate cancer, it could also raise the vulnerability of developing diabetes or suffering a heart attack or stroke.

Shinohara along with his colleagues has decided to do partnership with the medical oncology, urology, and cardio-oncology programs for better understanding about which patients have the most chances to get benefit from ADT. In the ones already receiving the treatment, the team is going to determine how to better protect the cardiovascular system of the patients.

ADT decreases serum testosterone levels, which is prostate cancer marker because it can make the carcinoma grow or shrink at a slower pace.

In 2010, the American Heart Association released a report regarding the probably association between ADT and bad cardiovascular events.

The Vanderbilt study suggested that there is apparently a link between ADT and high levels of low-density lipoprotein and triglyceride, reduced lean body mass and increased fat, high insulin resistance and low glucose tolerance, and a metabolic state almost similar to metabolic syndrome.

A senior author of the study, Dr. JavidMoslehi said that the aggressive treatment of the cardiovascular risk factors can be a very important move in the direction of reducing the stroke and heart disease risk among patients.