The PSA flare phenomenon when first starting chemotherapy with docetaxel has been noted by many clinicians. To evaluate this flare in men with castrate resistant prostate cancer treated with docetaxel, researchers retrospectively evaluated the charts of 56 men who received docetaxel-based chemotherapy in three different centers from August 1999 to August 2007. They found that [...]
Clinical trials are used to both demonstrate that a drug or treatment has efficacy (extends life or improves the quality of life). They also are used as the vehicle to obtain approval from the governmental body responsible for monitoring and approving their use. How the trial is set up will directly dictate the eventual approved [...]
There have been some randomized studies that have shown that when prednisone is used in combination with docetaxel (chemotherapy) there is an improved survival in men who have metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). To add to our understanding of the possible clinical value of this combination of drugs some researchers have retrospectively evaluated whether the [...]
Clinical trials for treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer often don’t include men who are considered very elderly (aged over 80 years). So, even if we know that a treatment is tolerable and effective in the average man, we can not assume that it would also be in the very elderly, especially in reference [...]
Many men express great hesitation to move to chemotherapy with both docetaxel (taxotere) and cabazitaxel (Jevtana) because of the side effects which can include alopecia (hair loss), nail changes, neuropathy, and dysgeusia (a distortion of the sense of taste). A group of researchers hypothesized that the adverse side effects (AE) of these two chemotherapy drugs, [...]
Chemotherapy for prostate cancer is still limited to just two drugs, docetaxel (Taxotere) and cabazitaxel (Jevtana). Both of these chemotherapy drugs are taxanes, but they seem to be very different in their mode of action. A study published online in Clinical Cancer Research, indicates that cabazitaxel might be more effective for some men than docetaxel. [...]
Abiraterone acetate (AA) or Zytiga has demonstrated a survival benefit in the pre-chemotherapy setting for men with advanced prostate cancer that has become castrate resistant (mCRPC). As a result it is in widespread clinical use in the United States prior to the use of chemotherapy with docetaxel. Since its FDA approval post chemotherapy there has [...]
Yesterday’s post was about the use of chemotherapy (with docetaxel) for the treatment of men with advanced prostate cancer who were 80 years old or older. Today’s post is about the use of chemotherapy in men 60 years or younger. The research for both of these posts was performed by the same team of scientists [...]
Over the past two to three years there have been some small studies that have indicated that the use of concomitant anticoagulants along with docetaxel (chemotherapy) may improve overall survival The most recent examination of this issue was performed by a team led by Emmanuel S. Antonarakis, MD, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. They [...]
The FDA approved Abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) plus prednisone because it demonstrated a survival benefit for men with metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) in the pre-chemotherapy setting. Given the newness of the approval of Zytiga in this disease stage there is a lack of data on how Zytiga affects the efficacy of enzalutamide (Xtandi) or [...]
