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Prostate Cancer

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ATHENS-In patients with advanced or inoperable prostate cancer, intermittent androgen suppression shows promise as an equally effective, less toxic, and cheaper alternative to continuous hormone blockade, Dr. Sergio Bracarda, of Perugia University (Italy), said at the 23rd Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).

BETHESDA, Md--Citing "an unprecedented opportunity to make substantial strides in the treatment of prostate cancer," an outside panel has urged the National Cancer Institute to increase funding and broaden efforts to understand and defeat the second leading cause of cancer deaths among US men.

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla--Is brachy-therapy for prostate cancer a ‘gimmick’ or a new treatment technique with numerous advantages over either radical prostatectomy or external beam radiotherapy? Very definitely the latter, Jay Friedland, MD, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, said at the Southern Association for Oncology (SAO) 11th annual meeting.

BETHESDA, Md--The Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) has voted not to recommend that the Food and Drug Administration approve Metaret (suramin hexasodium for injection, Parke-Davis) for the treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

STRATFORD, Connecticut--Several studies have shown the ability of the percent-free PSA blood test to help differentiate benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) from prostate cancer among men with elevated PSA levels and thus reduce the need for prostate biopsy. Now, two studies in the September issue of Urology have further defined the situations in which percent-free PSA may be used to improve the performance of total PSA level results.

PRINCETON, NJ--Cytogen Corporation is sponsoring a new website on prostate cancer that highlights its diagnostic imaging agent ProstaScint. The agent is used in newly diagnosed patients at high risk for metastases and in postprostatectomy patients with a high suspicion of recurrence or spread.

WILMINGTON, Delaware--Zeneca Pharmaceuticals has received FDA approval to market Zoladex (goserelin acetate implant) for use in combination with the antiandrogen flutamide (Eulexin) prior to and during radiation therapy for the management of early-stage prostate cancer (stages B2-C).

TORONTO--Preliminary data on patients with rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels after radical prosta-tectomy suggest that ProstaScint scin-tigraphy may offer a way to identify patients most likely to benefit from radiation therapy. ProstaScint (capromab pendetide) is an indium-111-labeled murine monoclonal antibody diagnostic agent that attaches to the prostate-specific membrane antigen.

LOS ANGELES--Early use of combination chemotherapy may have a role in the treatment of poor-prognosis, androgen-dependent prostate cancer, as well as androgen-independent patients, preliminary results from an ongoing study suggest. Evidence of anticancer activity has been seen in several patients treated with the combination of paclitaxel (Taxol), estramustine (Emcyt), and carboplatin (Paraplatin), William Kelly, DO, reported at the ASCO meeting.

ANN ARBOR, Michigan--The typical candidate for radical prostatectomy does at least as well with three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiation therapy for early-stage prostate cancer, results of a University of Michigan study suggest. Findings in 172 consecutively treated patients showed a 95% actuarial survival 8 years after radiation therapy and an 85% rate of freedom from biochemical failure.

LOS ANGELES--Combined therapy with suramin and hydrocortisone significantly improved palliation over placebo plus hydrocortisone in hormone-refractory prostate cancer. The palliative improvement emerged within 6 weeks, and the difference between the regimens increased to the end of therapy, Eric Small, MD, reported at the ASCO integrated symposium on prostate cancer.

LOS ANGELES--Preliminary results with a gene-therapy approach to recurrent prostate cancer suggest antitumor activity in at least some patients. Three of 18 patients have had decreases in PSA levels of more than 50%. The effects have persisted for 45 to 290 days, including one patient who became biopsy negative for a brief period of time.