In a bid to make people more aware about prostate cancer, a recent study has been made in drawing a line between patients who need aggressive treatment and those who need normal treatment. Being the second most common cause of death from cancer in men in the United States, the disease has captured the interest of Janet Stanford. For the study, a team from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center examined the DNA in blood samples from more than 1,300 prostate-cancer patients in and around Seattle, and found 22 genetic variants associated with aggressive, lethal prostate cancer.

Though the revelation could not help in providing early identification of the disease, it has been claimed that it may significantly improve the result of the treatment.

"The question was simple: How can we identify the prostate cancers that are destined to kill? It's often difficult to distinguish between harmless and aggressive cancers", said Stanford, daughter of a prostate-cancer survivor.

Advocating the use of a blood test for a better prognosis, Stanford said, "We need to be able to stratify patients, and this has the potential to help do that”.

The work done by Stanford and her colleagues is getting much deserved recognition from the medical fraternity for being the first study to probe the genetic history to determine the aggressiveness of a tumor.