Fall is quickly approaching, along with the colors it also brings the influenza. For most people influenza is a bother, but for cancer survivors it brings many unique concerns not shared with the general population. It brings serious illness, hospitalizations and possibly death! During an influenza epidemic, between 21% and 33% of cancer survivors who [...]
One of the constant complaints I hear fro men with advanced prostate cancer that has become castrate resistant about Provenge (sipuleucel-T) is that the anticipated increase in overall survival is only 4.1 months and given the cost of $93,000 for the three infusions many men feel that cost does not justify the survival benefit. My [...]
One of the more common side effects of chemotherapy is anemia, or the lack of hemoglobin (red blood cells). Severe anemia is dangerous and will require the suspension of the use of chemotherapy as well as immediate treatment. In light of this the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that Amgen Inc. developed [...]
Can brachytherapy be a reasonable salvage option for men with a local recurrence after the failure of initial radiotherapy for prostate cancer treatment? A recent review of the literature evaluated the use of radiation as a salvage option after the failure of local-only treatment with radiation. The results were mixed. The researchers did a PubMed [...]
On September 27th Dendreon announced that it has enrolled and started its first patient with metastatic advanced prostate cancer that is castrate resistanr in a European Union based clinical trial of Provenge. Finally, men in the EU can hope that in the near future that Provenge could become available to them. The trial is hoped [...]