Prostate Cancer

A group of scientists that includes a urologist is proposing a major update of the way the U.S. approaches diseases now classified as “cancer,” including eliminating that term from tumors considered indolent.

Men who receive decision aids about prostate cancer screening appear to have significantly increased knowledge about screening and less conflict about what to do, but the decision aids show little impact on their decision whether or not to be screened.

Men who are diagnosed with azoospermia are more prone to developing cancer than the general population, according to a recent study.

Drugs and devices in the pipeline from Targacept, Inc., Cubist, OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Apricus Biosciences, and Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp.

An effort in Sweden aimed at reducing inappropriate use of imaging to stage incident prostate cancer appears to be succeeding, and similar programs may help cut inappropriate imaging in the United States, researchers say.

In this interview, Dr. H. Ballentine Carter clarifies some misconceptions about the AUA PSA guideline and explains how it will benefit patients.

The rate of therapy for localized prostate cancer does not rise in markets with higher penetration of robotic surgical technology and intensity-modulated radiation therapy, according to a study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.

Data from a pivotal phase III trial of the radiotherapeutic agent radium Ra 223 dichloride (Xofigo) in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine (2013; 369:213-23).

Use of androgen deprivation therapy was associated with a significantly increased risk of acute kidney injury, with variations observed with certain types of ADT, according to a recent study.

Analyses of data from men in the intervention (screening) arm of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovary (PLCO) study show that prostatic biopsy is not associated with an increased risk of early mortality.

Some men with low-risk prostate cancer who are being managed by active surveillance can have their PSA levels measured every 6 months instead of every 3 months, researchers reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.

In men with diabetes who are diagnosed with prostate cancer, use of metformin reduces both cancer-specific and all-cause mortality, and the treatment benefits increase with increasing cumulative duration of exposure to the drug, according to the results of a retrospective study presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago.

The data are not convincing that one form of newer technology is superior to the traditional lower-cost prostate cancer treatments they replace (eg, robotic vs. open prostatectomy and photon vs. proton radiation).

Men plan to continue getting PSA tests despite the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s recommendation against screening, but just over one-third of men report shared decision making for screening with their physician, according to findings from two recently published studies.

Nerves play a critical role in both the development and spread of prostate tumors, report researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY.

High blood concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids are associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, results of a recently published study show.

Adherence to a series of lifestyle recommendations leads to a significantly decreased risk of highly aggressive prostate cancer, according to a recent study.

Danil V. Makarov, MD, MHS, presents the take home messages on outcomes analysis.

A study of more than 1,800 men ages 52 to 62 years suggests that African-Americans diagnosed with very low-risk prostate cancers are much more likely than Caucasian men to actually have aggressive disease that goes unrecognized with current diagnostic approaches.

Jay D. Raman, MD, presents the take home messages on prostate cancer from the AUA annual meeting in San Diego.

Observation appears to be safe and more cost effective than immediate treatment for many men with low-risk, localized prostate cancer, according to a recent study from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Early exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) leads to an increased cancer risk in an animal model of human prostate cancer, according to new research findings from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Our group all felt that we were caught off guard," said one urologist about the AUA's new prostate cancer screening guideline.

A relatively new imaging system demonstrates a higher capacity for mapping recurrent prostate cancer than integrated positron emission tomography and computed tomography, researchers recently reported at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Men with prostate cancer may significantly improve their survival chances with a simple change in their diet, according to a recent study.

A new AUA guideline on the early detection of prostate cancer is a PSA-focused, evidence-based guideline intended to assist the urologist in advising an average-risk, asymptomatic man about prostate cancer screening in order to reduce prostate cancer mortality, said H. Ballentine Carter, MD, at the AUA annual meeting in San Diego.

Results from the primary endpoint analysis in a phase III randomized, placebo-controlled study showed that intravenous radium Ra 223 dichloride (Xofigo), an alpha-particle-emitting radiotherapeutic agent and calcium mimetic that binds to newly formed bone stroma, significantly improved overall survival in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients with bone metastases.

The AUA has released its first-ever clinical practice guideline for castration-resistant prostate cancer, and all urologists who care for men with advanced prostate cancer should familiarize themselves with its contents, said Michael S. Cookson, MD, who presented the new guideline at the AUA annual meeting in San Diego.

A novel class of drug that disrupts androgen receptor signaling may some day provide a new therapeutic option for patients with advanced prostate cancer who fail androgen blockade.

Researchers using next-generation genomic analysis have determined that some of the more aggressive prostate cancer tumors have similar genetic origins, which may help in predicting cancer progression.