That Dirty Word Sequester & Its Terrible Effect on Cancer Research & Treatment

That dirty word, sequester is making it mark, especially medical and cancer research. Hospitals and researchers are feeling the pain directly and hard. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), for example, is cutting an estimated $1.6 billion from its budget through the end of the fiscal year. They have sent a letter to all of [...]

Statin Use And Better Prostate Cancer Outcomes

Not approved, not even tested with an appropriate clinical trial, but research has again shown that the use of statins in men with prostate cancer may have a lower risk of dying from the cancer than those who do not. In a study of 1,001 prostate cancer patients who were diagnosed between 2002 and 2005, [...]

Large Data Analysis Finds That Intermittent Hormone Therapy Is Equal to Continuous Therapy for Men Who Are Good Initial Responders

The Journal of Clinical Oncology, published an article by Niraula et al. that searched the general literature published through August 2012. They searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, as well as most major conference proceedings. Their criteria for inclusion included randomized, controlled trials of intermittent hormone therapy (IADT) as compared to continuous hormone therapy (CADT) [...]

Confronting The Terror in Boston – What It Could Mean for Us

We all know about the terror that has struck Boston. Two bombs exploded near at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and seriously injuring over 150 other individuals! One of the dead was an eight-year-old child. I know when I heard about the death of the child I prayed that this [...]

Barvarian Nordic Provides A Long Anticipated Update on Their Randomized Phase 3 trial of Prostvac VF

Barvarian Nordic (BN) released some outstanding news a few days ago. According to BN they hope to complete the enrollment in their phase 3, double blind, randomized, placebo controlled, international clinical trial of their cancer vaccine, Prostvac VF. The trial known as PROSPECT is scheduled to be completed with in the next 12 months, unless [...]

Prognostic Significance of the PSA Nadir Level after ADT for Prostate Cancer

Having your advanced prostate cancer progress to becoming castrate resistant is a major moment in our life. For many of us becoming castrate resistant signals a major change, a foreshadowing of what the future holds. Becoming castrate resistant heralds our eventual decline which can only lead us to one destination, our demise. How long it [...]

Where We Choose to be Treated and Who Provides the Treatment Affects Our Chances Survival

How often have I said that when you are diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer or when you experience a recurrence you need to move on to a specialist, a medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer? It is easier and more comfortable to stay with the known doctor, the [...]

Perineural Invasion On Prostate Biopsy: Does It Mean that I Have Advanced Prostate Cancer?

The simple answer is NO, however it should change your treatment game plan. A member of one of my support groups who has been doing active surveillance for about 5 years recently reported that their current biopsy indicated that they now have perineural invasion (PNI). They did not understand what was the significance of [...]

How Reliable Are On-line Medical Resources When Discussing Hormone Therapy (ADT)?

My friend and colleague, Richard Wassersug published an article on April 4, 2013 on the on-line service, Uro-Today.com, about the lack of reliability on internet sites when they discuss hormone therapy. Dr. Wassersug is a Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Dalhousie University, Canada. His research interests include the Psychosocial impact of [...]

A Magic Bullet To Cure Cancer – Sorry, Not Yet – But Who Knows

So, you say that there is a magic bullet! A drug that will cure all types of cancer! Come on, lets get real, NO, it is not true, At Least Not Yet. I don’t usually comment on early stage (animal model) research because we simply are not rats, zebra fish, dogs or monkeys. This, I [...]

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