When I was first diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer one of the first questions that I asked my doctor was whether it made sense for me to start chemotherapy immediately. I very clearly remember him telling me that there was absolutely no evidence that starting chemotherapy at this early stage would do anything to extend [...]
There was a recent study to investigate the predictive value of the number of extra-spinal organs involved by metastases for survival in metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) from prostate cancer. This was a very small study of only 95 men irradiated with 10×3 Gy for MSCC from prostate cancer. The investigators considered seven factors: Age, [...]
Today’s post will be a little admonishment of you, my loyal readers. So, please be open-minded and think about what I have to say to you. A number of months ago I mentioned the new prostate cancer research-funding project we have embarked upon, Start A Cure (www.StartACure.com). For those of you who might have missed [...]
Although there are now many new treatments for advanced prostate cancer, hormone therapy (ADT) has remained the standard of care for the last 70 years. While hormone therapy can provide pain relief, it is never curative. Long-term hormone therapy produces decreased quality of life. Men treated with hormone therapy have weight gain, experience impotence, decreased [...]
The treatment of advanced prostate cancer, and in particular castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), has changed greatly over the last 4 years. Treatment options have expanded and now offer multiple treatment possibilities that did not exist 4 years ago. With the addition of all these new options, so comes the addition of significant economic costs, [...]
The following is a post from Chuck Maack on the Advanced Prostate Cancer Internet support group: “It came to mind wondering how many patients and/or their caregivers prescribed Zytiga/abiraterone acetate have ever taken the important time to read all the details regarding the effects that may be experienced by patients and whether or not they [...]
There was a lot of interesting and important presentations at the recent American Urological Association meeting, however the one item that will have the most impact on men with advanced prostate cancer is the new guidelines that were proposed for the treatment of men with castrate resistant prostate cancer. The guidelines were organized by creating [...]
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) [...]
Malecare will be holding a free teleconference this Tuesday, April 30 at 6.m. I will be speaking with Dr. James Gulley who is the Deputy Chief of the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology at the National Cancer Institute and the Director of the Clinical Trials Group. He also serves as a Senior Investigator within [...]
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 [...]
