We know that men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and visceral metastases have a worse prognosis than those with non-visceral metastases. The important question we need to understand is what, of our currently available treatments, might be effective for this more aggressive and deadly type of prostate cancer? Results of the phase 3 AFFIRM [...]
Again and again I have mentioned the huge need we have for the development of reliable bio-markers. Reliable bio-markers will allow us to know which men will respond positively to a treatment (also those who will not) and when a treatment is still effective (also when it no longer is effective). These biomarkers really don’t [...]
According to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston Ma., men with aggressive prostate cancer who have radiation therapy to treat the cancer have better overall survival rates when the therapy is given at a high volume treatment facility. Paul Nguyen, MD, a physician researcher in the department of Radiation Oncology at Brigham said, “Our paper shows that [...]
Researchers in Hong Kong wanted to confirm the efficacy of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) used prior to chemotherapy that had been shown in the trial setting. In their analysis they came up short; raising some very significant concerns about Zytiga’s efficacy when used prior to chemotherapy. They reviewed the clinical records of men with metastatic castrate [...]
Since we have many new treatments for men with castrate resistant metastatic prostate cancer (mCRPC) (advanced prostate cancer) we need to develop earlier indicators of when a treatment might or might not be successful. A decline in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is widely used to monitor treatment response, but it has not been validated as an [...]
Side effects, or what are known as co-morbidities, often discourage men who have metastatic prostate cancer from continuing with chemotherapy (docetaxel). The question often asked is there a relationship between having side effects and the ultimate efficacy of the chemotherapy? In other words does having side effects have an effect on overall survival? To answer [...]
Clinical trials have shown that there is an overall survival and radiographic progression-free survival benefit derived from abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) in the treatment of men with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). A new retrospective study published online, ahead of print, shows this trend is true regardless of a man's Gleason score at diagnosis, despite [...]
Once a clinical trial has been completed, especially when the trial is positive, researchers will “data mine” the published information. The published results provide additional opportunities to evaluate the data in different ways than the trial was originally designed. This new data can be very interesting and informative, however it also needs to be considered [...]
Understanding how to best sequence and combine our new drugs to treat advanced prostate cancer includes the most discussed issue, efficacy. We want to know if a special order or a special combination of the approved drugs will nake a difference in both our quality of life (QoL) as well as how survival. Often [...]
Because of the large amount of prostate cancer screening there has been a major shift in initial staging in prostate cancer in western countries, with the incidence of metastases at diagnosis decreasing from over 50% in the 1970s to currently less than 10%. Despite this very significant drop in late stage diagnoses prostate cancer is [...]
