NCCN guidance on initial management of low-risk, localized prostate cancer (redux)

In late October, we had commented on the then-latest revision of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)’s guidelines on the initial management of men with low-risk forms of localized prostate cancer. Specifically we had protested the removal of any suggestion that this form of prostate cancer should — preferably — be managed using active surveillance. The NCCN has now released a new revision to the guidelines that has modified the prior suggestion. … READ MORE …

Projected attendance at AS research conference

About 100 patients, clinicians, and others are already registered as attendees at the conference on

Click on the link above for more information and to register. There is still plenty of time to join us.

The conference will take place from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm Eastern time on Monday, December 13 AND on 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Thursday, December 16.

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NCCN guidance on the initial management of low-risk, localized prostate cancer

As many readers will already be aware, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has recently removed the word “preferred” from its statement regarding the use of active surveillance (AS) as an appropriate form of management of men with low-risk forms of localized prostate cancer. A broad swath of specialists in the initial management of low-risk disease, as well as many in the patient advocacy community, have been highly critical of this change to the NCCN guidelines. … READ MORE …

Whole-pelvic radiation therapy for high-risk patients

The decision about whether or not to treat the entire pelvic lymph node area along with the prostate (called whole pelvic radiation therapy or WPRT) or to treat just the prostate with a margin around it (called prostate-only radiation therapy or PORT) has long been a matter of judgment. … READ MORE …

Timing of initiation of ADT for men with biochemical progression after first-line surgery

For many years your sitemaster has been advising patients that overly early use of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in many men with progressive prostate cancer is not necessarily the best decision (for a number of possible reasons). … READ MORE …

Rethinking risk stratification for radiation therapy

In 2016, we looked at the Candiolo risk stratification system for radiation therapy. To our knowledge, it has not been prospectively validated or widely adopted. … READ MORE …

AS research survey: your help still needed

As of Friday (July 22), we had received more than 250 responses to our brief survey on research into active surveillance. Most of these are from patients and some from their familial supporters (spouses, partners, etc.). However,we are still interested in getting more input — especially from clinicians, including specialists, generalists, and allied health personnel like urology nurses! … READ MORE …

Helpful upcoming webinars this week

Three more upcoming webinars this week will deal with (a) the work-up of men with prostate cancer prostate cancer who progress after first-line therapy (such as surgery, radiation, etc.); (b) whether Gleason 6 disease should really be defined as “prostate cancer”; and (c) an update on the most current information related to the evaluation and management of men with prostate cancer appropriate for active surveillance. … READ MORE …

Three helpful upcoming webinars

Three upcoming webinars deal with (a) the diagnosis and work-up of clinically significant forms of localized prostate cancer; (b) handling anxiety and related issues for men on active surveillance (AS); and (c) whether AS is appropriate for African Americans and others of African ethnicity. See below for details. … READ MORE …

Research on AS in management of prostate cancer: your input is important!

A diverse group of patients, patient advocates, patient spouses/supporters, physicians, and other researchers has come together, with funding support from the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), to plan a virtual conference for the fall of 2021. At that conference, we intend to discuss and identify new and evolving opportunities for research into the most appropriate, high-need, high-impact topics affecting the use of active surveillance (AS) for the management of favorable-risk forms of prostate cancer (i.e., low-risk and “favorable” intermediate-risk disease). … READ MORE …

Brief, intense radiation and hormone therapy for very high-risk prostate cancer

As we’ve seen, brachy boost therapy seems to have the best oncological results for men with very high-risk prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

FDA approves Pylarify for diagnosis of advanced/recurrent forms of prostate cancer

In ,a recent media release, Lantheus Holdings announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved the imaging agent known as piflufolastat F 18 Injection (also known as Pylarify® or more commonly just “PyL”) as a PSMA-based PET imaging agent for identification of prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

Are we closer to automated pathological assessment of prostate cancer biopsy slides?

According to a recent article in Modern Pathology, a team of researchers at Yale University and at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have been able to show that an artificial intelligence (AI) system designed and validated at MSKCC could be used to diagnose prostate cancer as either “suspicious” or “not suspicious” based on data from nearly 2,000 slides of prostate tissue acquired at Yale Medicine. … READ MORE …

Active surveillance and related research: a new research initiative

As some of our readers will already be aware, Prostate Cancer International has been working in concert with Dr. M. Mihaj Siddiqui at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the PATIENTS program at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy to put together a grant request for funding for a program to identify evidence gaps to guide future research on the use of active surveillance to monitor low-risk prostate cancers. … READ MORE …

Major new survey on active surveillance and prostate cancer

In February, a group of researchers initiated a major new survey of patient knowledge about active surveillance as an initial management option for men with lower risk forms of prostate cancer. … READ MORE …