We have all been ever increasingly aware of the weakness of our scanning technologies when it comes to both diagnosing prostate cancer and its recurrence. Given that about 1/3 of all primary treatments for prostate cancer will fail and the cancer will return it is vital that we improve our ability to detect prostate cancer [...]
There are multiple definitions of biochemical recurrence for prostate cancer treatment post surgery. This causes confusion both within the patient community and the medical community. It would be very helpful if we could standardize a simple measure, PSA as the biomarker for a biochemical recurrence. Standardization post surgery would give us a better way to [...]
There has been a lot of hype and confusion about what is the best contrast for prostate cancer PET/CT scans. The two newest contrasts; (18)F-FACBC (anti1-amino-3-(18)F-fluorocyclobutane-1-carboxylic acid) and (11)C-choline both have their supporters and their detractors. To try and evaluate the efficacy differences between these two contrasts in men who have suffered a bio-chemical recurrence [...]
The common belief is that if you are diagnosed with prostate cancer that has already developed metastases only a systemic treatment will provide a life extending benefit. In other cancers it has been shown that the treatment of the primary tumor improves survival (tumor debulking). To find out if, in fact radiotherapy treatment of the [...]
Periodically, some of the men in one of my support groups get locked into what they see as the importance of monitoring their C-reactive protein (CRP) serum levels to be able to predict their chances of having a Bio-Chemical Recurrence (BCR) (PSA only). The CRP measures levels of inflammation and we know that inflammation and [...]