On The Horizon – Cabazitaxel Extends Life After Chemotherapy Failure

The drug is called Cabazitaxel, (it will be named Jevtana) and is made by the French company Sanofi-Aventis SA. Cabazitaxel is a chemical cousin of Taxotere (the current standard of care) and it is designed to evade the mechanism that cancer cells use to resist Taxotere, so we can assume that initially it would be [...]

Congressional Committee Hearing To Be Held Tomorrow to Address Prostate Cancer Issues

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Congressman Edolphus Towns, will hold a hearing entitled: “Prostate Cancer: New Questions About Screening and Treatment” tomorrow, Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. This is the first Congressional prostate cancer hearing in 11 years and, in the midst of debate on a health reform [...]

Rapid PSA Decline After Docetaxel Chemotherapy is Associated with Improved Survival in Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer

A chart review performed at the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB. concluded that the a quick rate of initial PSA decline in men with hormone refractory prostate cancer receiving docetaxel chemotherapy (chemo) predicts an increased overall survival (OS). Studies have demonstrated that docetaxel chemotherapy does prolong survival in metastatic hormone-refractory prostate [...]

The Time To Biochemical Failure Post Radiation Predicts Your Survival Time, How To Plan Your Todays

Yesterday, November 11, 2009, I wrote that I appreciated knowing what my survival chances were after learning that I had a returning PSA, so I thought that this study was particularly relevant. At the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) conference, Dr. Buyyounouski and his colleagues from the Fox Chase Cancer Center reported on a [...]

Late Stage Clinical Trials

I compiled a list of trials that are activily recruiting men with hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) who have also failed chemotherapy (taxotere). Being at this point in the disease process is by far the scariest time. We face the reality that there are no more approved treatments available to control the cancer. Clinical trials [...]

Cancer Survivors and Stress

I have often hypothesized that stress can escalate the rate of prostate cancer progression, leading to earlier deaths. I work actively to find ways to eliminate stress from my immediate environment and from my life. I have told the story many times about two men who were members of my weekly Malecare prostate cancer support [...]

On the Horizon – Sunitinib Malate for Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Following Docetaxel Chemotherapy

Docetaxel (Taxotere), or chemotherapy, will as all other treatments for advanced prostate cancer stop working. Many of us will progress quickly to this stage and eventually face a situation where there are no longer any approved treatments available to control our prostate cancer. If you are lucky enough to have an oncologist who is creative [...]

Changing the Best Practices for End of Life

It is true; life does come to an end. Dying and of course birth are the commonality we all will experience. Since we have already been born and since you are reading this you have not yet died. Therefore, it is in all of our best interests to find a way to insure that all [...]

Mitoxantrone Plus Prednisone – A Possible Fallback After Taxotere Failure

Men with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer (mHRPC) who become docetaxel-refractory (no longer responsive to docetaxel therapy have no approved second line chemotherapy available. One could say that they have reached the proverbial brick wall. Where to go and what to do is not at all clear. Most of us do not want to just roll [...]

What Effect You will Leave Behind

When the reactor at Russia's Chernobyl melted down about 20 years ago, we saw the potential horrors that our atomic age can cause. The radioactive gases released were all invisible, odorless, and undetectable to the human senses, but the fallout from this accident still took the lives of all those unfortunate enough been anywhere near [...]

Go to Top