Author: staff reporter

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Indications for Prostate Biopsy

Digital Rectal Exam (DRE)
suspicious for cancer at any PSA level		 PSA above 3 ng/mL High Risk of prostate cancer based on multiple risk factors.
TRUS (transrectal ultrasound) Guided Biopsy. In some circumstances, Doppler ultrasound- guided or MRI-guided biopsy may be preferred or required. If TRUS-guided-biopsy not done, follow up in 6 to 12 months with PSA/DRE. Consider testing FPSA, PHI, and/or PCA3 if PSA is between 3 and 10 ng/mL. Measure free PSA (FPSA), PHI (Prostate Health Index), or PCA3 in patients with PSA 3 - 10 ng/mL

...continue reading "Biopsy to Detect Prostate Cancer – when is it needed?"

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May help determine specialized treatment

PSA Rising via TORONTO, Canada – May 27, 2015 – Prostate cancer researchers in Canada have drawn a molecular portrait that provides the first complete picture of localized, multi-focal disease within the prostate and also unveils a new gene subgroup driving it.

...continue reading "Gene Subgroup C-MYC in Aggressive Gleason 7 Prostate Cancer"

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Keep walking
Keep Walking
For cancer patients, a brisk walk or a slow jog on a regular basis may be the key to improved cancer treatments.

Brad Behnke, associate professor of exercise physiology at Kansas State University has shown together with colleagues that moderate exercise on a regular basis enhances tumor oxygenation. Getting more oxygen into a tumor may improve treatments in cancer patients. ...continue reading "Moderate Exercise May Make Cancer Treatments More Effective"

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In mouse models immune cell manipulation plus chemotherapy achieves prostate cancer remission where chemotherapy alone fails

Blocking or removing immune-suppressing cells , researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found, allows a special type of chemotherapy — and the immune cells it activates — to destroy prostate tumors.

This combination therapy, termed chemoimmunotherapy, achieved near complete remission in mouse models of advanced prostate cancer. ...continue reading "Targeting B Cells to Tackle Immune System Suppression in High Risk Prostate Cancers"

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This chart shows the National Cancer Center Network Guidelines, 2014, for use of the PSA test and Digital Rectal Exam (DRE) for early detection of prostate cancer. Recommendations for men over age 70 are below the chart. prostate-cancer-early-detection-chart-png

...continue reading "Prostate Cancer Early Detection Flowchart"

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President Obama is proposing "a major new initiative to develop drugs tailored to the genetic characteristics of individual patients, but he expresses deep concern about the costs of such specialty medicines for consumers and for the Medicare program," reports Robert Pear in April 27 New York Times. ...continue reading "Obama Proposes That Medicare Be Given the Right to Negotiate the Cost of Drugs"

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Advocating for advanced prostate cancer patients in Scotland, Alister Walker, Chairman and volunteer in Perth & Kinross Prostate Cancer Support Group, writes in the Scottish newspaper The Herald:

"Last week we read the good news that Moderator-Designate of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Reverend Dr Angus Morrison, has overcome the disease (Church leader in cancer warning , The Herald, April 23). With prostate cancer so often being symptomless in its early stages he is right to urge other men to consider speaking to their GP about the disease. This is particularly important for men aged over 50, black men and men whose father or brother has had the disease - who are at a higher risk. ...continue reading "Abiraterone rejection in Scotland must be overturned, Prostate Cancer advocate says"

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Implantable device could allow doctors to test cancer drugs in patients before prescribing

PSA Rising-- April 24, 2015,   More than 100 drugs have been approved in the USA to treat cancer, but predicting which ones will help an individual patient is an inexact science. Patients may undergo weeks of noxious side effects before scans reveal that for this patient a particular drug is not working--even though it  works for the patient in the next chair. A new implantable device, about the size of a grain of rice, may change that. ...continue reading "A Step Toward Personalized Chemotherapy"