Caution, Common Medications Impact PSA Measurments

There have been a number of studies that have suggested that some common medications will alter prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA., investigated the impact of individual and combinations of common medications thought to impact PSA in a large cross-sectional study of the United States population. [...]

Baseline PSA Predicts Risk of Death from Prostate Cancer

The common question when we are diagnosed with prostate cancer is how long do I have to live? The exact same question is asked again when we discover that we have had a prostate cancer recurrence. Times have changed and so has our potential life span. In the late 1980s and early 1990s men diagnosed [...]

Ron Gerhard Speaks About the American Cancer Society & PSA Testing

There has been a lot of criticism about the recent guidelines on PSA testing that has been issued by the American Cancer Society (ACS). Many of us with advanced prostate cancer are appalled with these guidelines and feel it is just another example of the ACS abandoning men with cancer over the powerful breast cancer [...]

Rapid PSA Decline After Docetaxel Chemotherapy is Associated with Improved Survival in Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer

A chart review performed at the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB. concluded that the a quick rate of initial PSA decline in men with hormone refractory prostate cancer receiving docetaxel chemotherapy (chemo) predicts an increased overall survival (OS). Studies have demonstrated that docetaxel chemotherapy does prolong survival in metastatic hormone-refractory prostate [...]

Mammograms vs PSA Testing – What A Surprise As Men Lose Again

On this blog I have tried to be minimally involved in writing about the PSA screening controversy, but I find it is getting hard to continue to avoid the issue. As I ate my breakfast this morning I was reading the New York Times and came upon the article “Quandary with Mammograms: Get a Screening, [...]

Pomegranate Juice May Slow the Progression of Post-Treatment Prostate Cancer Recurrence

When your PSA starts to rise after you have received primary treatment you need to be concerned that your prostate cancer has reoccurred. The first indicator of recurrent prostate cancer is a detectable level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Research has demonstrated that PSA doubling time is a reliable tool to distinguish which cancers pose a [...]

Modifying My Anti-Inflammaory Drugs – Will They Affect My PSA?

I recently had a regular follow-up appointment with my rheumatologist. Over the years he has had me on various non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (vioxx is one common example). My appointments with him have become fairly routine, we greet each other, he spends ten minutes scolding me because I still have not lost any weight and then [...]

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