So how long does it usually take for men undergoing hormone therapy (ADT) to progress from being hormone dependent to hormone independent? Clearly, we should always remember that this is a very individual, case-by-case time. However, there was a recent time analysis published in the February 2009 edition of Urology. These researchers found that after [...]
I often discuss the use of salvage radiation after surgery has failed and the PSA begins to rise. Although often mentioned, but seldom used, men who fail radiation as a primary treatment can also benefit from salvage surgery. When I first was deciding what to use as my primary treatment modality I was led to [...]
Once we become hormone refractory (HRPC) there remains only one approved drug to treat our prostate cancer, docetaxel. As with hormone therapy (ADT) docetaxel also stops working after a period. There have been different strategies used to try to deal with this untenable situation, including the use of docetaxel on an intermittent schedule. A recent [...]
Urinary incontinence is a common problem suffered by many of us post both surgery and radiation therapy for prostate cancer. The degree of incontinence varies from no problem all the way to having no control of the urinary function. Men having surgery find that as time progresses post treatment, they do regain levels of urinary [...]
HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound) is one of the newer treatments for prostate cancer. Although not yet approved in the United States it has received a lot of press and growing popularity as a primary treatment option. There are a number of European countries already using it as a regular treatment modality and there are a [...]
A paradoxical, but logical finding, indicates that I am more likely to die from prostate cancer than my fellow pc survivors. In the world of prostate cancer I am a young man. I was diagnosed at 50 years and suffered a recurrence at 55 years, in the prostate cancer world this makes me a young [...]
The Department of Urology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, performed a retrospective study designed to evaluate the overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) in men receiving primary androgen-deprivation therapy (PADT) or salvage medical ADT (SADT) for prostate cancer. The study included men who were diagnosed and treated with ADT between July [...]
An article in today's New York Times about obtaining drugs under the compassionate use clause boiled my blood. I am not usually one without words, but this story has left me speechless, or wordless. I can not add anything to the story, it speaks for itself and makes me cry. Joel T Nowak MA, MSW
A lot has been written about the need to identify better biomarkers to both assist in the initial diagnosis of prostate cancer and then to help determine which cancers are potentially dangerous from those that are actually indolent. Finding these markers is vital, I too have written about the great need for them. However, in [...]
Taking bisphosphonates as a part of our prostate cancer treatment puts all of us in direct risk of developing osteoporosis. Bisphosphonates have been found to place us in a high-risk state for developing osteonecrosis of the jaws (rotting of the jaw bones). It is now possible to use X-rays to detect "ghost sockets" in the [...]
