All of us in the prostate cancer world know that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPTF) has announced its recommendation against routine PSA screening for men. There remains much debate and unhappiness in both the medical community (urologists and oncologists) as well as in the prostate cancer community itself. There remains a lot of [...]
Cancer related fatigue (CRF) is a common problem suffered by many cancer survivors, including men with advanced prostate cancer. Whether the fatigue is a result of the cancer or of the treatment doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you are fatigued and unable to live your life as you wish. CRF can affect us [...]
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center along with Danish researchers have announced the development of a novel, investigational anticancer drug (G202) that has been described as a molecular grenade that targets cancer cells. The drug is able to travel undetected by normal cells through the bloodstream until it is activated by a specific cancer proteins, then [...]
At a recent meeting that I attended it was reported by a nurse that one of her patients with advanced prostate cancer with only a PSA recurrence and lymph node involvement on a scan was rejected by their insurance company for reimbursement for Provenge. The insurance company indicated that to pay for the treatment they [...]
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is an old standby for the treatment of men with metastatic or advanced prostate cancer. We have long known that testosterone plays an integral role in the progression of prostate cancer, thus we often use it as an initial treatment for men who become metastatic. ADT is used both for men [...]
The National Health Service cost regulators for England and Wales have recommended the use of Zytiga in the treatment of men with castrate resistant advanced prostate cancer. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published a final guidance endorsing Zytiga as an NHS treatment option for men with advanced, metastatic, castration resistant [...]
Many of us in the United States with advanced prostate cancer who have failed Zytiga are looking to enter the Early Access MDV-3100 Clinical Trial. However, you need to be aware that there are some requirements you will need to meet prior to starting MDV-3100. You will need to wait 30 days after stopping Zytiga [...]
Not in the normal realm of advanced prostate cancer, but important for the prostate cancer world is the news that the FDA has approved a new screening test for prostate cancer. The currently used screening tool, the PSA has only a 55% accuracy rate and as recently run into serious trouble with The U.S. Preventive [...]
There has been an on-going debate on the advanced prostate cancer on-line support group about the issue of the efficacy of Provenge in light of the expectation of a person's increasing PSA number while getting the treatment. For many men with advanced prostate cancer this is a reason they elect to pass on this treatment [...]
If you are contemplating any sort of medical procedure during the month of July, preceed with cauction. July is the perfect storm, a time in which many unnecessary medical mistakes are to be made, especia in hospitals. July is a time when part-timers, temporary workers and newbies, none of whom know how to work with [...]
