Genitourinary Cancers

Researchers at the Moffitt Cancer Center have created a computational model to simulate the bone metastasis process and to predict the outcomes of specific prostate cancer therapies.

This review examines the relevance of a translational framework for studying therapeutic androgens in prostate cancer.

An increased intake of vitamin A may result in a decreased risk for bladder cancer, according to the results of a meta-analysis.

Neoadjuvant treatment with dose-dense methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin was well tolerated and should be considered a reasonable option for patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cancer, according to a new study.

Low testosterone levels may indicate disease worsening in men diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer who are being evaluated by active surveillance, according to a new study.

In a recent study, the drug tadalafil (Cialis) did not improve erectile function in men undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

Results from two large cohorts indicated that increasing blood pressure levels were associated with an increased risk for developing kidney cancer among both men and women.

Patients with localized prostate cancer treated with primary androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) without radiation therapy or surgery derived no survival benefit, according to the results of a large study.

The addition of gemcitabine to a cisplatin- and ifosfamide-containing drug regimen resulted in a complete response rate of greater than 50% in patients with relapsed metastatic germ cell tumors, results of a phase II study indicated.

There is no question that radiopharmaceuticals have a role in the management of patients with metastatic bone disease. There is also no question that fractionated external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is highly effective and generally well tolerated when delivered with large open or focal fields.

In order to achieve maximum survival of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, the judicious use of all available effective agents and modalities is required. Both EBRT and radium-223 are effective at relieving pain, but both may decrease bone marrow function.

As new data and new treatment options emerge, palliative radiotherapy algorithms will need to undergo continuous modifications and updates to ensure that patients receive optimal symptom relief.

Moving forward, perhaps no recent development in the use of RT in metastatic prostate cancer has captured greater attention than the use of radium-223 in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Case History: 60-year-old man with mild right side abdominal discomfort and hepatomegaly found to have large right renal mass during CT scan.

This review will include discussion of the role of radiation therapy for osseous metastases and metastatic spinal cord compression, as well as the use of radiopharmaceuticals for painful osseous metastases.

It is important for all of us now and then to take a step back and recapture the wonder that we all felt at the onset of our careers, when treatments we now consider simple and routine held an aura of miracle. For me, a little bit of that wonder returns every time I treat a patient with a bony metastasis-in particular, from prostate cancer.

A study of patient preference revealed that patients who participated in a crossover trial of pazopanib and sunitinib for metastatic renal cell carcinoma preferred treatment with pazopanib.

A noninvasive DNA methylation test using urine samples from patients with non–muscle-invasive bladder cancer can detect cancer recurrence. The test demonstrated both specificity and sensitivity in detecting recurrence.

Patients receiving treatment with sunitinib for advanced renal cell carcinoma experienced worse treatment-related fatigue during the first cycle of treatment with symptoms lessening after subsequent consecutive cycles.

In a recently published study, younger men who undergo a prostatectomy for their prostate cancer cut their relative risk of dying from prostate cancer by 55%, and those with intermediate-risk disease cut their relative risk of dying from prostate cancer by 62%.

In this interview we discuss the role of early treatment, active surveillance, and watchful waiting in patients with PSA-detected early-stage prostate cancer.

A history of significant cigarette smoking adversely affected overall survival in patients who underwent surgery for clear-cell renal cell carcinoma, according to the results of a recent study.

New data from the long-term SELECT trial shows that men given high-dose supplementation of both selenium and vitamin E had a higher risk of developing high-grade prostate cancer.

Patients treated with a newer, faster, and less expensive type of radiotherapy also have higher rates of urinary complications, according to a new study.

An intense higher-dose radiotherapy regimen may be a better treatment option for men with localized prostate cancer, according to the 10-year results of the international phase III RT01 trial.

The FGF inhibitor dovitinib failed to improve progression-free survival outcomes as a third-line treatment for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma compared with sorafenib, according to the results of a new study.

New research shows that tumors found in obese patients may be more indolent than those in nonobese patients, and this may, in part, be related to alterations in fatty acid metabolism explaining the obesity paradox in clear-cell renal cell carcinoma.

Improved early detection of prostate cancer would ideally involve a noninvasive test that allows clinicians to distinguish aggressive cancers from relatively indolent ones. This distinction is especially important given that relatively few men who undergo screening are destined to die of prostate cancer.

For those undergoing screening for the presence of previously undiagnosed prostate cancer, the major challenge for new tests is to avoid the overdetection of indolent cancers that limits the clinical utility of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.

The benefit-to-risk trade-offs associated with PSA screening are highly sensitive to patient preference, underscoring the importance of ensuring that men have the opportunity to decide for themselves whether they wish to have their individual risk for suffering and death from prostate cancer assessed through PSA screening.