Posted on February 22, 2012 by Sitemaster
As we have previously discussed, the question posed above is a highly controversial one, and there is a legal case in the U.S. — the case challenging Myriad Genetics ownership of patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes for specific types of breast cancer — which has now reached the Supreme Court (sometimes called SCOTUS [...]
Filed under: Diagnosis, Risk | Tagged: gene, Myriad Genetics, patent, Supreme Court | 3 Comments »
Posted on February 21, 2012 by Sitemaster
According to a recently published research letter, men with prostate cancer who live close to the Loma Linda proton beam radiation therapy (PBRT) center are five times more likely to choose PBRT for their treatment than are other men who live in California but don’t live close to Loma Linda! DUH!
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: Loma Linda, PBRT, proton beam | 2 Comments »
Posted on February 21, 2012 by Sitemaster
A new paper published on line in the Journal of Urology suggests that the PSA and %free PSA levels of current smokers and former smokers may be statistically significantly impacted compared to those of men who have very rarely or never smoked.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Risk | Tagged: free, history, PSA, smoking, total | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 20, 2012 by Sitemaster
A new study has attempted to calculate the impact of age, health status, and patient preference on the relative outcomes (and merits) of immediate surgery as compared to active surveillance for the management of low-risk prostate cancer.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk | Tagged: active surveillance, life, low, outcome, quality, risk, surgery | 3 Comments »
Posted on February 20, 2012 by Sitemaster
A new study on relative rates of survival at 10 years, just published on line, is probably going to get differing reactions from patients and from physicians depending on their individual points of view.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Treatment | Tagged: comparative, mortality, outcome, survival | 7 Comments »
Posted on February 16, 2012 by Sitemaster
An article just published by Grimm et al. in a supplement to BJU International argues (quite persuasively) that low-dose brachytherapy is the best form of treatment for men with low-risk prostate cancer.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: brachytherapy, comparative, low risk, low-dose, outcome | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 16, 2012 by Sitemaster
No one seems to be quite sure what to make of this, but a new study has suggested that men who are diagnosed with clinically detectable prostate cancer — but do not actually die from their prostate cancer — are at higher risk for all other cause mortality than men who show no signs or symptoms of [...]
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Risk | Tagged: all other cause, mortality, non-prostate-cancer | 5 Comments »
Posted on February 16, 2012 by Sitemaster
A new report from a Scottish research team offers evidence that high plasma cholesterol levels are associated with an increased risk for a diagnosis of high-grade prostate cancer.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Prevention, Risk | Tagged: cholesterol, grade, high, risk | 4 Comments »
Posted on February 15, 2012 by Sitemaster
According to a report today on Xconomy.com, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has approved the Progensa® PCA3 test developed by Gen-Probe.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Risk | Tagged: biopsy, Diagnosis, PCA3, risk, test | 4 Comments »
Posted on February 14, 2012 by Sitemaster
An article in this month’s issue of Health Affairs shows that, among a sample of about 1,800 physicians questioned on whether they had “sometimes or often” misrepresented the facts to patients or otherwise carried out arguably unethical acts in speaking with or about the care of specific patients,
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: bioethics, lies. lying | 7 Comments »
Posted on February 11, 2012 by Sitemaster
A new report just published on line in the Journal of Urology has shown that — at least in the state of North Carolina — distance from the nearest urologist affects prostate cancer risk category at diagnosis and may disproportionately impact black as opposed to white patients.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: category, distance, race, risk, urologist | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 9, 2012 by Sitemaster
A study just published on line in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention has suggested (albeit not for the first time) that a baseline history of coronary artery disease may be a meaningful risk factor for prostate cancer.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Management, Risk | Tagged: coronary artery disease, heart disease, risk | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 7, 2012 by Sitemaster
There has been increased discussion in the past couple of years related to the risk of infection in men undergoing prostate biopsy after initial testing for risk of prostate cancer (based on results of PSA test data and/or a digital rectal examination).
Filed under: Diagnosis, Risk | Tagged: biopsy, hospitalization, infection, risk | 7 Comments »
Posted on February 5, 2012 by Sitemaster
The following is promised commentary on a second group of the more interesting presentations last Thursday at the Genitourinary Cancer Symposium in San Francisco, with links to the more detailed abstracts.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Treatment | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 31, 2012 by Sitemaster
A new review of the available literature has concluded that, despite the fact that “prostate cancer is an ideal target for prevention,” there is in fact “no suitable evidence to recommend using any specific nutritional supplement or diet to prevent prostate cancer” at the present time.
Filed under: Diagnosis, Prevention, Risk | Tagged: 5-ARI, 5α-reductase inhibitor, diet, nutrition, Prevention, supplement | 1 Comment »