The newest gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist therapy drug, degarelix (aka Firmagon) has become more commonly used in everyday clinical practice as an alternative hormone therapy treatment drug (ADT). Given that its use has become common it is important to understand both its safety and efficacy as compared to our older standard drugs. The best way [...]
New information about a possible bad side effect of hormone therapy (ADT) for men with prostate cancer was just published and it is frightening for men on hormone therapy (ADT). The findings are a result of a joint study conducted by researchers at Penn University Medicine with researchers from Stanford University. What is it that [...]
I have often had men recently diagnosed with advanced, metastatic prostate cancer call me and ask if surgery makes any sense for them to consider. I have never been sure how to respond given that their cancer is known to be already out of their gland. In response to this common question, researchers from the [...]
In an online article published Friday, November 6, 2015 Dr. David Crawford raises some very serious questions about how we standardly use hormone therapy (ADT) in the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer. He claimed that not only is it vital for initial positive outcomes, it is vital for the successful use of the [...]
It has been long assumed that hormone therapy (ADT) used in the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer increases a man’s risk for developing potentially live threatening thromboembolic disease (formation in a blood vessel of a clot (thrombus) that breaks loose and is carried by the blood stream to plug another vessel. The clot [...]
Understanding a little about the prostate gland and its biology is not only interesting, but it allows us to ask some important questions that can be very specific to our prostate cancer treatment decisions and our eventual outcomes from these decisions. It also can simply add to the confusion we all face in making the [...]
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has received approval and launched, in the United States, a generic version of the Avodart (dutasteride) capsules at the 0.5 mg dose. Avodart, 5-alpha reductase inhibitor, is FDA approved for the treatment of men with benign prostate hyperplasia (an enlarged prostate gland), however, although not approved; men often use it as a [...]
Intermittent hormone therapy (IHT) as opposed to continuous hormone therapy (CHT) provides a better quality of life (QoL) for men with locally advanced prostate cancer. However, there is a debate created by a few major research protocols that have been inconclusive as to the difference in achieving the ultimate goal, survival despite prostate cancer. Researchers [...]
Traditional hormone therapy usually consists of two types of drugs; GnRH agonists (like Lupron and Zoladex) and antiandrogens (Casodex). Although they both are drugs that manipulate the hormone system their modes of action are different. GnRH agonists block the production of the male hormone testosterone while the antiandrogen drug blocks the ability of the prostate [...]
During last year’s American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) Annual Meeting, data was released from the STAMPEDE trial which should change clinical practice around the world. The trial results showed that newly diagnosed men with very aggressive prostate cancer that was still hormone therapy naive (no ADT) would have a very significant survival advantage by [...]
