Prostate Cancer

Discontinuing the practice of drawing blood every week from patients undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer can save time and money without jeopardizing the patient’s care, a new study has found.

ASCO-A leuprolide (Lupron) implant that provides continuous testosterone suppression for up to a year has been shown to be safe and effective in patients with advanced prostate cancer. The experimental implant spares patients the need for frequent injections of the LHRH (luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone) agonist.

ASCO-Docetaxel (Taxotere) plus estramustine phosphate (Emcyt) and low-dose hydrocortisone proved effective and well tolerated in a phase II study of men with hormone-refractory prostate cancer. The study was conducted by the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) and presented at the ASCO annual meeting.

DALLAS-The American Urological Association is one of the premier specialist medical associations and has done a great deal to advance patient care in this field. I know the AUA works closely with AFUD, the American Foundation for Urological Diseases, and I have a great appreciation for the work you do. Although I’m not a doctor or a scientist, I’m working with you to accomplish some of the same objectives.

NEW YORK--The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) have collaborated to translate the NCCN prostate cancer guidelines into a patient-friendly resource for appropriate treatment, the two organizations announced at a press briefing.

A prospective, randomized clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of endocrine chemotherapy with uracil and tegafur (in a molar ratio of 4:1 [UFT]) in patients with prostate cancer. The study included two

Dr. Moul has done a wonderful job of outlining the scope and magnitude of the “phenomenon” of patients found to have a progressively rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level after potentially curative local treatment for prostate cancer. His

Dr. Moul discusses one of the most contemporary yet contrversial topics in prostate cancer-namely, a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level after the failure of local therapy. The way in which patients with advanced prostate cancer present

Patients whose only sign of recurrence after local therapy for prostate cancer is a rising prostate-specific antigen level (PSA-only recurrence) have become more common. We have developed two models to predict PSA-only

The side effect profiles of various therapeutic modalities used in the definitive management of prostate cancer differ significantly, reported Tamara LaCouture, MD, and colleagues at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and

DALLAS-An analysis of SEER data shows small but steady decreases in prostate cancer mortality since 1991, Robert A. Stephenson, MD, said at the American Urological Association annual meeting. He attributed the decline to a combination of factors, including earlier detection and better treatment of advanced disease. Yet overall, he said, the data show that prostate cancer remains a major cause of death in men and may be undertreated in the elderly.

New research shows that a low-calorie diet slows the progress of prostate cancer in animals. Tumor progression was inhibited irrespective of how the calories were reduced; ie, by cutting fat or carbohydrates or by changing the overall diet. The research

Adenocarcinoma of the prostate the most common solid tumor in American men, is responsible for tremendous morbidity and mortality in this country, and yet controversy governs most discussions of screening, diagnosis, and treatment. Central to any

Quality of life (QOL) and health status data obtained from the Veterans Administration Cancer of the Prostate Outcomes Study (VA CaPOS) have the potential to add substantially to information available from other observational databases and

The VA Cancer of the Prostate Outcomes Study (VA CaPOS) is collecting quality-of-life (QOL) information from prostate cancer patients, spouses, and physicians at six VA medical centers. Currently, 601 men with prostate

DALLAS-Of 1,371 men with early-stage prostate cancer (T1c) detected by PSA screening and treated via radical prostatectomy between 1987 and 1996, only three have died of their cancer, Angelo J. Iocca, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, said at the American Urological Society annual meeting.

BETHESDA, Md-Up to 40% to 50% of prostate cancer patients who undergo radical prostatectomy for localized prostate carcinomas will relapse. Traditional prognostic markers, such as clinical stage or pretreatment levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), are of limited value in predicting which individuals will have relapsed disease.

Like pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA), post-treatment PSA nadirs may have prognostic significance in patients with prostate carcinoma, according to data presented by Timothy S. Boyd, MD, Robert C. Orth, BS, Wolfgang A. Tomé,

New Orleans-The advisability of neoadjuvant hormonal therapy in the management of prostate cancer is a hotly debated issue. At the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) spring refresher course, two opinion leaders in radiation oncology squared off on opposite sides of this issue.

BETHESDA, Md-The National Cancer Institute is funding a wide range of prostate cancer research, including genetic epidemiology, molecular diagnostics, diet and nutrition, animal models, surveillance, diagnostic imaging, clinical trials, prevention and early detection, and the Cancer Genome Anatomy Project .

WASHINGTON-The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has announced a national decision that Medicare will cover cryosurgery for patients with localized prostate cancer. The decision rescinds an October 1996 ruling against such coverage, which HCFA said reflected a lack of conclusive scientific evidence at that time in favor of the procedure. Additional evidence supporting its effectiveness led HCFA to reverse itself and grant coverage.

Dr. Vicini and colleagues provide an excellent review of the experience to date utilizing interstitial brachytherapy in the treatment of locally advanced prostate cancer. As the authors mention, ample evidence suggests the existence of a dose-

Vicini and colleagues present an informative, compelling review of both past and recent clinical investigations of the use of brachytherapy in patients with prostate cancer, particularly those with locally advanced disease. The tables presented at the

Brachytherapy boosts in combination with external-beam radiation therapy allow a highly conformal dose of radiation to be delivered to the prostate in a safe, efficient manner. Several types of brachytherapy boost

BUFFALO, NY-Roswell Park Cancer Institute is offering a new blood test to detect early prostate cancer. The complexed prostate-specific antigen (cPSA) test appears to be more accurate than standard PSA at differentiating between prostate cancer and benign conditions, and thus may eliminate the need for unnecessary biopsies when PSA tests are ambiguous