One of the most common gripes I hear (and one that I often express) is that Medical news changes often. How often do we hear of a "breakthrough" only to be disputed the next week. It is confusing and it is difficult to know what news to believe and whether we should change a practice, [...]
Cancer chemotherapy agents historically have been administered intravenously or by an injection. In recent times there have been a number of emerging oral chemotherapy. Most of us strongly prefer the oral drugs as they are a convenient and noninvasive alternative to intravenous and injected therapies. Additionally, many of the intravenously delivered chemotherapy drugs target and [...]
I recently read a very interesting post by Trisha Torrey on About.com about a happening on the TV show, Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey is a PBS (in the United States) TV show that originates from the UK. Briefly, the show is about the British aristocracy and their help, not dissimilar to the other famous show [...]
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center found in a genome-wide analysis of 13 men with metastatic prostate cancer that there were consistent epigenetic "signatures" or “marks” across all metastatic tumors in each of the subject men. The discovery contradicts the current belief that epigenetic marks that sit on the nuclear DNA of cancer [...]
What should the role of a cancer survivor be? Why are we supposed to be giants among people, after all we are just regular people? Why are we to be measured against the likes of Lance Armstrong? I know that I am a simple mortal, not a god or a Nobel Peace Prize winner; I [...]
Chemotherapy with Docetaxel is usually given on a once every three (3) week schedule of 75 mg/m2 administered intravenously + prednisolone (10 mg/day p.o.) for men with advanced prostate cancer. In the cases when the side effects are too difficult for a man to tolerate, the dose is often reduced to 50 mg/m2 administered intravenously [...]
I remember when I was first diagnosed with a prostate cancer recurrence, when I was told that I had advanced prostate cancer. More than any other times that I have been told I have cancer (I have melanoma, thyroid cancer, renal cancer and advanced prostate cancer) I felt the world stopped and my life was [...]
Cabozantinib (XL184) is an orally bioavailable tyrosine kinase inhibitor with activity against MET and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2. It is designed to target the men with castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Results from a phase II randomized discontinuation trial with an expansion cohort of XL184 have recently been released. The trial included men [...]
We are constantly hearing about possible ways to control prostate cancer through diet. Often, researchers point out that in Asian cultures, even in the cultures that have a similar rate of prostate cancer, the disease seems to progress in Western cultures, but not in the Asian cultures. A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published [...]
I have said many times that one of the more important issues facing our use of Provenge is when to start it and how to sequence this treatment with the other newly approved agents that have recently become available for men with advanced prostate cancer. There is occasional conversation that Provenge is already antiquated due [...]
