There is a paradigm shift happening around us in the clinical care of men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. We now know that survival is better when docetaxel chemotherapy is added to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), but there have been and still remains concerns about the toxicity of the docetaxel. Recent findings from a new study, [...]
One of the frustrations faced by men in the UK has been the Guideline that restrictes the use of chemotherapy (docetaxel) to only men who have already failed hormone therapy (ADT). This Guideline directly contradicts the current, cutting edge evidence that, in certain circumstances, earlier chemotherapy increases survival. The good news is that the NHS [...]
Another piece of information from the recent ASCO GU conference in San Francisco Researchers have found that adding statin drugs may prolong the sensitivity of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) To assess the effect of statins on abiraterone therapy, Dr Harshman, of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber [...]
The newest gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist therapy drug, degarelix (aka Firmagon) has become more commonly used in everyday clinical practice as an alternative hormone therapy treatment drug (ADT). Given that its use has become common it is important to understand both its safety and efficacy as compared to our older standard drugs. The best way [...]
It is a little out of the normal scope of this blog, but a recent prostate cancer study from Canada has received a lot of buzz and needs some commentary and analysis. The study concluded that for men who are diagnosed with local prostate cancer (still confined in the gland) live longer if they have [...]