On the advanced prostate cancer online support group there have been some questions raised about how we know when drugs like Zytiga and Xtandi have stopped working. Knowing this as soon as possible is important so that you can quickly move on to the next treatment without giving the prostate cancer time to progress and [...]
Someone on the advanced prostate cancer online support group ask about what are the criteria to go into hospice care. One individual replied that you would need to be within 6 months of your potential death. Another person replied from their individual experience. They said, “Hospice in CT doesn’t have a life expectancy strictly attached [...]
Mama might have been correct, eat your yogurt. Many of us already know that a healthy gut with plenty of probiotics to support your gastrointestinal health is absolutely critical to boosting your immune system. Experts say that gut flora could account for as much as 80% of our immune system! A study from the University [...]
Many clinicians are concerned when a patient comes to them with prostate cancer that has been shown to have perineural invasion (PNI). PNI is defined as the presence of prostate cancer found by biopsy that tracks along or around a nerve within the perineural space. The presence of PNI has been a concern because of [...]
We have many new drugs that have been recently approved to treat advanced prostate cancer. Two of these drugs are abiraterone (Zytiga) and enzalutamide (Xtandi). These drugs offer new hope to men with advanced prostate cancer after the cancer has become resistant to hormone therapies (called "castration-resistant prostate cancer"). These drugs are a real breakthrough, [...]
The first line of treatment for advanced prostate cancer is Androgen (male hormone) Deprivation Therapy or ADT. Once the PSA progresses (climbs) while still on ADT and with testosterone levels
September is Prostate Cancer Awareness month and many organizations that are involved with education and support of men (and their families) who have prostate cancer are scheduled to have programs during the month. There are a number of events that I want to let you know about (perhaps you will attend): September 6-8 The Prostate [...]
On August 13, 2013 I wrote an important post about the terrible practice beginning to rear its head called step therapy. Step therapy is the practice of insurance companies requiring less expensive drugs be prescribed prior to more expensive ones despite the comparative efficacy of the drugs and their different mechanisms of action. This practice [...]
Most of the newly approved drugs and treatments for men with advanced prostate cancer are designed and approved to be used independently of other advanced prostate cancer treatments, other than with the continuation of standard androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The newly approved drug, Xofigo, is different. It has been designed to supplement, or actually go [...]
A study from Michael T. Schweizer, MD, and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore Md. concluded that the longer the metastasis-free survival after a radical prostatectomy the longer overall survival in men who experience biochemical recurrence (PSA only recurrence) of their prostate cancer. This conclusion was made from a retrospectively study of 450 men [...]
