Normally I don't write about pre-clinical things unless they are particularly interesting. You guessed it; I found a preclinical item that is interesting. According to a recent published study by Richard Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, Director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University the receptor CCR5, which is targeted by already approved [...]
As of January 1, 2015 there will be some significant changes in the billing and reimbursement schedule for men receiving Bayer healthcare’s radium Ra223 dichloride (Xofigo). Xofigo is FDA approved for the treatment of men with castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer (mCRPC) who have symptomatic bone metastases and no known visceral metastatic disease. These changes result [...]
Doctors are not trained to communicate with patients. Now, with the onset of electronic medical records this problem has become worse. Many of them hardly even look their patient in the eyes; instead their faces are often buried in the computer screen and not on us. Since they don’t really know us, they stumble around, [...]
Recently there have been a number of conversations in the prostate media around the topic of treating oligometastatic prostate cancer with a curative goal. Oligometastatic prostate cancer describes the disease state where primary treatment has failed as evidenced by an increasing PSA along with scanning evidence of a limited number of lymph nodes involved in [...]
On Dec 2, 2014 Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted a variation that amends their marketing authorization for enzalutamide (Xtandi). Based on this amended authorization Xtandi is now approved in Europe for the treatment of adult men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic [...]
On December 7, 2014 the TV show 60 Minutes (CBS) aired a very interesting story (narrated by Dr. Sanjay Gupta) interview about an amazing sounding man, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shing. To describe him as a genius would be an unfair understatement. Dr. Soon-Shing is a billionaire who has already invested about $1 billion dollars of his [...]
There has been much conversation surrounding the use of intermittent androgen deprivation (IAD) as opposed to continuous androgen deprivation (CAD) in men with prostate cancer who need hormone therapy (ADT). The question that has been at issue is if either method is superior to the other. There have been studies that have concluded that they [...]
There are a number of different flavors of hormone therapy (ADT) used to treat advanced prostate cancer. However, they could be summed up and put into two different categories. 1- The use of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist therapy (drugs like Lupron and Zoladex) along with short term antiandrogen (AA) flare protection 2- Degarelix, a [...]
My wife Wendy wrote a post to the advanced prostate cancer online support group where she discussed our recent experience re-entering the healthcare system to deal with a non-prostate cancer issue. In the post she shared that I have been diagnosed with a rare cancer, appendiceal cancer, specifically a mucinous cystadenocarcinoma. We have become very [...]
Choline-C11 PET/CT scans can identify the actual sites of recurrence of prostate cancer in men who have a rising PSA after receiving primary therapy. The question worth asking is if this type of scan might be able to be used for prognostic purposes. Knowing this might influence our treatment decisions as well as our basic [...]
