In an issue of ONCOLOGY, there was a review of the literature provides us with a comprehensive review of the limited literature on management of men with prostate cancer who have pelvic lymph node involvement but no known distant metastatic disease at diagnosis. Common folklore has been that these men, with limited pelvic lymph node [...]
Side effects, or what are known as co-morbidities, often discourage men who have metastatic prostate cancer from continuing with chemotherapy (docetaxel). The question often asked is there a relationship between having side effects and the ultimate efficacy of the chemotherapy? In other words does having side effects have an effect on overall survival? To answer [...]
There is a paradigm shift happening around us in the clinical care of men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. We now know that survival is better when docetaxel chemotherapy is added to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), but there have been and still remains concerns about the toxicity of the docetaxel. Recent findings from a new study, [...]
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 [...]
One of the frustrations faced by men in the UK has been the Guideline that restrictes the use of chemotherapy (docetaxel) to only men who have already failed hormone therapy (ADT). This Guideline directly contradicts the current, cutting edge evidence that, in certain circumstances, earlier chemotherapy increases survival. The good news is that the NHS [...]
Once again we see what seems to be logical isn’t necessarily the way it actually works! In a surprising study result, it was shown that the use of intermittent androgen-deprivation therapy (IADT) for prostate cancer is not associated with fewer long-term adverse events than continuous ADT! Who would have guessed? We all thought that intermittent [...]
ASCO GU has given us a number of interesting posters, some of which I have already written about in prior posts. Another of these posters (abstract 232) was about an analysis by Ruessel and colleagues describing cardiovascular events among men with prostate cancer using German claims data. The researchers, in a retrospective study, attempted to [...]
Another piece of information from the recent ASCO GU conference in San Francisco Researchers have found that adding statin drugs may prolong the sensitivity of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) To assess the effect of statins on abiraterone therapy, Dr Harshman, of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber [...]
Radium-223 (Xofigo) is a drug for men with castrate resistant metastatic prostate cancer (mCRCP) who have multiple bone metastases. Radium-223 selectively targets bone metastases by mimicking calcium, which is attracted to the bone, especially to the fast growing areas of the tumor in the bone. It emits an alpha-emitting dose of radiation, which is mostly contained [...]
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 [...]
