Oh no, another not so very clear issue for men with prostate cancer has emerged! According to an article written by Tara Parker-Pope in the New York Times, bisphosphonates (i.e. Fosamax), has been reported, in some rare occasions, to actually cause weaker bones that lead to an unusual type of fracture of the femur. Bisphosphonates [...]
According to Philip M. Arlen, M.D., director of the Clinical Research Group for the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, Center for Cancer Research, at the National Cancer Institute, "Vaccines, if and when they are approved, can be safely and effectively combined with other therapies, including hormones. There appears to be an advantage in overall [...]
Health care reimbursement rates from insurance companies and Medicare drive many of our medical decisions in the United States. Call me a liberal, but I do believe that health care is a right, not a privilege and that financial decisions should NOT play a role in the decisions about what is best for patients. However, [...]
Common practice is to treat men with advanced prostate cancer with androgen inhibition therapy (ADT) with or without antiandrogens (Casodex). Most of our prostate cancer will progress and develop into androgen-independent prostate cancer despite our achieving castrate testosterone levels. Dutasteride, a 5-alfa-reductase inhibitor, is commonly used in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Additional, [...]
Highlights of the advance prostate cancer session meeting in Orlando, Florida included Abstract 531 which evaluated 6,437 men who had received androgen deprivation therapy for more than 1.5 years. According to the abstract Dementia and COPD were the main non-GU side effects associated with long-term androgen deprivation. Presented by Ziya Kirkall, MD, at the Annual [...]