Approximately one third of all men diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer will experience a recurrence of their prostate cancer! This is a shocking number, but it is a true number. It does not matter what the treatment a man has, the statistic holds up across all treatments. The first sign of a problem, a [...]
A joint task force composed of members from the American Urological Association (AUA) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has presented formal guidelines for the use of adjuvant and salvage radiation after a radical prostatectomy. To construct the Guideline they relied on a systematic review of the literature using the Pubmed, Embase and [...]
When facing a post prostatectomy biochemical failure (PSA only failure) the best way to treat is still not known. Preliminary data from Johns Hopkins [1] and Duke Universities[2] have recently provided some of the earliest evidence that salvage radiotherapy may prolong overall survival versus delay of intervention until time of symptomatic progression. Despite [...]
Can brachytherapy be a reasonable salvage option for men with a local recurrence after the failure of initial radiotherapy for prostate cancer treatment? A recent review of the literature evaluated the use of radiation as a salvage option after the failure of local-only treatment with radiation. The results were mixed. The researchers did a PubMed [...]
Off-line I have received a number of additional questions about the use of imaging with c11 choline (see my post at http://advancedprostatecancer.net/?p=3433). The questions ranged from what is c11 choline to how it compares to some of the other more sensitive PET scans contrasts that are being used to identify specific locations of recurrent advanced [...]
The FDA has approved c11 choline Injection, a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging agent, for use in men to detect prostate cancer recurrences and to locate specific body sites for follow-up tissue sampling, testing and treatment. The indicated use for c11 choline injection is men with elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels after earlier primary [...]
On Sunday at the AUA conference there was a poster (#159) titled ADJUVANT VS. SALVAGE RADIATION THERAPY FOLLOWING PROSTATECTOMY FOR LOCALLY ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER: RESULTS FROM SEER-MEDICARE written by Keith J. Kowalczyk, etal. The researchers evaluated the optimal timing of external beam radiation (RT) after the completion of a radical prostatectomy (RP) as primary treatment [...]
Currently the American Urologic Association is holding their annual conference. Like the ASCO and AACR conferences there are many presentations and posters given that harkens the latest in research findings for general urological topics as well as for prostate cancer. I will be reporting on a number of these findings over the next period of [...]
Carboplatin is a chemotherapy agent used for treatment of many types of cancer. Currently, it is approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for treating patients with ovarian and non-small cell lung cancer. However, some oncologists use carboplatin “off-label” for other cancers. Commonly, these “off-label” uses include testicular, stomach, and bladder cancers as well [...]
Following failed radiation therapy (RT) the best treatment of recurrent prostate cancer remains controversial due to the lack of long-term data. Researchers reviewed the survival and establish prognostic indicators for men who received salvage cryotherapy for biopsy-proven recurrent prostate cancer. […]
