We are now around half way through the month of October, I am sorry breast cancer awareness month, I keep forgetting! How can I forget with that pink ribbon on everything I buy at the supermarket and after watching the manliest of men, football players, dancing around with pink sneakers. So, why is breast cancer [...]
At the 2013 European Cancer Congress in Amsterdam Dr. Howard Scher from Sloan Kettering Hospital reported that a panel of biomarkers could identify men with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who were responding well or less well to treatment with Zytiga + prednisone (abiraterone + prednisone). Dr. Scher provided data in his presentation to support [...]
It is generally agreed that prostate cancer which is still 100% confined to the prostate gland is curable using local therapies like radiation or surgery, but when it has left the prostate gland and becomes metastatic it is no longer curable. Treatment for metastatic prostate cancer is intended to make the prostate cancer a chronic [...]
Extra radiation will not keep the doctor away, so why do we use it? According to a recent study published in the Oct. 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association most men who are given radiation to control pain from bone metastasis accompanying advanced prostate cancer undergo more treatments than they really [...]
Today’s post will be a little admonishment of you, my loyal readers. So, please be open-minded and think about what I have to say to you. A number of months ago I mentioned the new prostate cancer research-funding project we have embarked upon, Start A Cure (www.StartACure.com). For those of you who might have missed [...]
Whenever we take a drug, whether it's in injectable or an oral drug it must be cleared from our bodies otherwise it can become toxic to us. Unfortunately, our ability to clear drugs varies from individual to individual. These different abilities are often related to genetic differences we each have from one another. Doing of [...]
Suzanne Somers is a well known actress and also a well known cancer survivor. Her book, "Knockout: Interviews with Doctors Who are Curing Cancer and How to Prevent Getting it in the First Place" has made a very positive impression on many people, including many doctors who have strongly objected to her writings. I want [...]
OncLive Peer Exchange has put out a video about the issues that most concern many of us surrounding the use of Provenge (Sipuleucel-T). The video is a 9 minute discussion with Drs. Raoul Concepcion (moderator), Leonard Gomella, Lawrence Karsh, Evan Yu and Mark Scholtz. They examine the concern that so many men with advanced prostate [...]
According to Albert Camus, “Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.” The transition from patient under active treatment to being just an everyday cancer survivor can be a most challenging experience for many of us. Our surgical scars and the radiation burns have subsided and those that remain are [...]
Zytiga (abiraterone acetate) and Ketoconazole (keto) are both widely used in prostate cancer therapy to treat men with advanced prostate cancer. They both have a common mechanism of action, they both work by inhibiting the enzyme CYP17 that is responsible for androgen biosynthesis (creation). Inhibiting CYP17 lowers testosterone levels, which results in prostate cancer tumor regression. Because [...]
