Many clinicians are concerned when a patient comes to them with prostate cancer that has been shown to have perineural invasion (PNI). PNI is defined as the presence of prostate cancer found by biopsy that tracks along or around a nerve within the perineural space. The presence of PNI has been a concern because of [...]
We have many new drugs that have been recently approved to treat advanced prostate cancer. Two of these drugs are abiraterone (Zytiga) and enzalutamide (Xtandi). These drugs offer new hope to men with advanced prostate cancer after the cancer has become resistant to hormone therapies (called "castration-resistant prostate cancer"). These drugs are a real breakthrough, [...]
Researchers at Johns Hopkins has concluded that metastasis-free survival appeared to independently predictor of overall survival (OS) in men with recurrent prostate cancer who underwent androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) after developing metastases. Men with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer (PSA only) tend to survive for long periods so the FDA gold standard for clinical trial endpoint [...]
The first line of treatment for advanced prostate cancer is Androgen (male hormone) Deprivation Therapy or ADT. Once the PSA progresses (climbs) while still on ADT and with testosterone levels
Dr. Nima Sharifi from the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute has claimed to have identified a genetic mutation in one of the deadliest forms of prostate cancer. His finding, published online today in the journal Cell, shows that there is a mutation that occurs in an enzyme that is present in a drug resistant form [...]
September is Prostate Cancer Awareness month and many organizations that are involved with education and support of men (and their families) who have prostate cancer are scheduled to have programs during the month. There are a number of events that I want to let you know about (perhaps you will attend): September 6-8 The Prostate [...]
Some good news for my neighbors immediately to my north. Enzalutamide (Xtandi) has received Health Canada's approval for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistand advanced prostate cancer in the post chemotherapy phase. This means that any man with castrate resistant prostate cancer, once they have received taxotere can now get Xtandi. Xtandi works by being a [...]
On August 13, 2013 I wrote an important post about the terrible practice beginning to rear its head called step therapy. Step therapy is the practice of insurance companies requiring less expensive drugs be prescribed prior to more expensive ones despite the comparative efficacy of the drugs and their different mechanisms of action. This practice [...]
Most of the newly approved drugs and treatments for men with advanced prostate cancer are designed and approved to be used independently of other advanced prostate cancer treatments, other than with the continuation of standard androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The newly approved drug, Xofigo, is different. It has been designed to supplement, or actually go [...]
A study from Michael T. Schweizer, MD, and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore Md. concluded that the longer the metastasis-free survival after a radical prostatectomy the longer overall survival in men who experience biochemical recurrence (PSA only recurrence) of their prostate cancer. This conclusion was made from a retrospectively study of 450 men [...]
