Men who experience a reoccurrence post surgery will usually be referred for salvage radiation therapy. The goal of the radiation is to simply eliminate the stray cancer cells that might have remained in the prostate bed. The only way we currently have to monitor the outcomes from this radiation is to monitor PSA. Researchers at [...]
We all know that one of the common problems many of us will confront when fighting prostate cancer is experiencing bone fractures. Somtimes these fractures happen for little or no obvious cause. Why are bone fractures, especially spontaneous fractures (without any evident reason) so common in prostate cancer? […]
Prostate cancer patients who are treated with a combination of hormone therapy and radiation have a substantially improved chance of survival compared to patients who do not receive radiation, according to interim results of the largest randomized study of its kind presented at the plenary session, November 1, 2010, at the 52nd Annual Meeting [...]
Diagnosed with lymph-node positive prostate cancer, what are the best treatment options? Should you add surgery to hormone therapy? These are important questions which have not yet been adequately answered. To help to begin to answer this question, researchers at Department of Urologic Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL. and [...]
Many men with metastatic prostate cancer will suffer compression fractures in their spine. Since the spine is one of the most common sites for metastatic spread of the disease, the vertebrae often become brittle and at a very high risk for fractures. Hormone therapy and radiation therapy can also have a weakening effect on bone [...]
Today’s New York Times had a most distressing, but not surprising article, written by Reed Abelson, discussing the probable trend we will see in the near future in cancer treatment reimbursements. In a cost cutting experiment, the United Healthcare insurance company (UHC), will be starting a pilot project which entails paying medical oncology practices to [...]
Written by our own Richard Wassersug appearing in UroToday.com BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) – Much has happened with the use of androgen deprivation to treat prostate cancer (PCa) patients since Charles Huggins first castrated a patient in order to alleviate the symptoms of advanced PCa. Back then, patients were generally elderly and symptomatic with either urethral [...]
An article published Online First and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet Oncology reports that an oral bisphosphonate, sodium clodronate, improves overall survival in men with advanced prostate cancer. However, it does not reduce the risk of death in men with localized disease. These are the final results of the MRC PR05 and MRC [...]
We are finding that there are many different types of prostate cancer, all of them are actually different diseases. At Memorial Sloane Kettering Hospital, New York City, they recently announced that, based on genetic analysis, they have identified 23 different types of prostate cancer. One of these cancer types is neuroendocrine prostate cancer which is [...]
Just revealed in briefing documents which were released in advance of a scheduled Thursday meeting of the FDA’s Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs, which will be considering whether to recommend denosumab for approval, are significant concerns that denosumab, the investigational biologic drug for osteoporosis, may increase risk of serious infections through its activity against [...]
