Clinical trials are vital if we expect to continue to see improvements in the treatments and medications that are available. Unfortunately, there are some historical abuses in clinical trials so many people do approach them with a level of distrust. In contemporary times the clinical trial system has many safeguards that did not exist even [...]
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 [...]
The Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) was first published in 2000 and then updated in 2009. RECIST is a set of published rules that attempt to define when cancer tumors, including prostate cancer tumors, improve ("respond"), stay the same ("stabilize"), or worsen ("progress") during treatment. This criteria has become very important as the majority [...]
Clinical trials are used to both demonstrate that a drug or treatment has efficacy (extends life or improves the quality of life). They also are used as the vehicle to obtain approval from the governmental body responsible for monitoring and approving their use. How the trial is set up will directly dictate the eventual approved [...]
Go to any support group meeting and you are almost sure to hear someone, usually a new member of the group, ask about what they might do to lower their risk of having their prostate cancer progress or even lower their risk of dying from the prostate cancer. Among the common answer to this question [...]
So, you are a hero and have decided to participate in a clinical trial. We all are deeply in your debt, so I want to start out and extend to you a very big thank you. Making that decision to participate in a clinical trial isn’t an easy decision for anyone. Participating in a trial [...]
There are many trials and tribulations facing new drug approvals for men with prostate cancer. This is particularly true for men the drugs that are designed to fight metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) because of the many new treatments, all with life extending ability, that we now have available to use. The good news is [...]
I stumbled upon a fascinating piece of research from Iceland that looked at the role of Circadian Disruption in Prostate Cancer Development. Knowing my own very poor sleeping patterns and having heard many other men with advanced prostate cancer complaining about very similar experiences it peaked my interest. The researchers pointed out that there have [...]
It is commonly known that our current clinical trials struggle to enroll adequate numbers of minority men. Our inability to enroll a cross section of men that truly reflects the general population in prostate cancer clinical trials means that our results might not accurately reflect the best information for a minority man. The lack of [...]
Approximately 2 years ago Malecare and the New York State Prostate Coalition began asking questions about where the State of New York was hiding approximately $3,000,000 in funding for prostate cancer research. Each year New York State residents are asked to check off a little box on their state tax return donating an additional dollar [...]
