Prostate Cancer

For years, scientists have been baffled about why the same cancer treatment might work for one patient, but not another. Thanks in part to research funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, all that is changing. Scientists are beginning to understand that each patient doesn’t just have prostate cancer, they have their own particular form of prostate cancer (29 forms, to be exact). New technologies that allow us to identify the gene mutations in a patient’s tumor have resulted in the emerging field of precision medicine , which takes into account individual variability in genes, immune function, environment, and lifestyle for each person. This means that cancer, even prostate cancer, is a family problem. We now know: some of the genes that are responsible for prostate cancer are also responsible for cancers in daughters, and vice versa; for example, if your mom has the BRCA gene for breast cancer, this increases your risk for prostate cancer. PCF is still doing what we’ve been doing...

Welcome to the world of precision medicine. That sounds futuristic, like science fiction, or a cool exhibit, something that promises great things for tomorrow, something that’s not here yet. But this is different. We have new knowledge which has given us new targets for a smarter, more scientific approach that is helping all men with prostate cancer – but particularly those who need it most, men with metastatic prostate cancer. Even a year ago, many of these men had to endure the discouraging trial-and-error process of finding drugs that work for them. We hate trial and error; it takes up valuable time and wears you down. One day, there won’t be trial and error for prostate cancer drugs. Thanks to research funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, we have new targets – genes we now know to look for – that have led to new tests, which point us to specific drugs. Some of these drugs may not even be intended for prostate cancer, but for colon cancer or breast cancer; yet they are likel...

Gold has built fortunes and inspired Olympic dreams, but can it treat cancer? A team of doctors and researchers aims to find out, with help from patients including local meteorologist Frank Billingsley . “Gold is a safe material and it has been used in humans for hundreds of years,” said Steven Canfield, M.D., chief of urology at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “Think about all of the people who have gold fillings in their teeth for their whole life.” Canfield has partnered with researchers at Rice University , medical device company Nanospectra Biosciences and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City to perform a small clinical trial using gold nanoparticles to treat prostate cancer. The gold nanoparticles, known commercially as AuroShells, were developed by biomedical engineering professor Naomi Halas, Ph.D., principal investigator for the Halas Research Group at Rice University and Nanospectra. Made of ...

Craig Tendler, MD Apalutamide (Erleada) has been submitted for FDA approval for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer, according to Janssen, the manufacturer of the next-generation androgen receptor inhibitor. 1 In findings from the phase III TITAN trial (NCT02489318), on which the supplemental new drug application (sNDA) was based, apalutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with placebo and ADT in this patient population. Full findings from the study will be presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. The sNDA is being reviewed under the FDA’s Real-Time Oncology Review program. The program is designed to have a more efficient review process to make therapies available to patients more quickly. Selection into this program does not guarantee or influence approvability of the application, Janssen stated in a press release. ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Genetics and Prostate Cancer    Prostate Cancer Foundation We are in the midst of sea change on how prostate cancer is treated. After decades of study, trial and error, and moments of insight and discovery, genetic ... http://bit.ly/2PHi8hx

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Highly accurate test reveals recurring prostate cancer - Harvard Health Blog    Harvard Health After being treated for prostate cancer, some men will experience a rise in PSA levels suggesting that new tumors lurk somewhere in the body. Finding these tiny ... http://bit.ly/2ZSXy2C

After three years, 88% of the men, overall, remained free of cancer. Specifically, it was 100% of the men with low-risk cancer, 86% of the men with medium-risk cancer, and 75% of those with high-risk cancer who remained cancer-free. Among 27 men whose PSA levels rose, 25 had their cancer return. In 15, the cancer returned in the prostate, and in the others it had spread to other areas of the body, the researchers found. When the men were treated, no serious side effects occurred. Later on, however, two men had urethral strictures, which can prevent urination and required surgery, and two patients developed rectal fistulae that required an operation called a colostomy . Tharmalingam said that to improve the results of single high-dose radiation among men with medium- and high-risk cancer, other groups are experimenting with radiation doses as high as 23 Gy. But for these patients, it might be better to go back to giving smaller doses of radiation over a longer time, Tharmalingam sa...

Discomfort: a word that no one wants to associate with a medical procedure. But sadly, it’s sometimes unavoidable. A new University of Michigan study — recently published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology , examined the short-term degree of discomfort associated with two different prostate cancer detection methods: prostate MRIs and prostate biopsies. Of the two, the MRI is noninvasive. The researchers wanted to understand whether patients experienced less discomfort with the MRI than they did with the biopsy. LISTEN UP: Add the new Michigan Medicine News Break to your Alexa-enabled device, or subscribe to our daily audio updates on iTunes , Google Play and Stitcher . The study, led by Prasad Shankar, M.D. , an assistant professor of radiology, surveyed 110 men with low-risk prostate cancers who previously underwent one of the two tests. “We discovered the overall testing-related quality of life of a prostate MRI to be significantly greater than a prost...

[unable to retrieve full-text content] One High Dose of Radiation May Be Enough for Early Prostate Cancer    U.S. News & World Report By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter. (HealthDay). TUESDAY, April 30, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Treating men with low-risk prostate cancer with just one ... http://bit.ly/2PJGEig

SAN MATEO, Calif.--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Levita ® Magnetics, a company dedicated to improving the outcomes of surgical procedures through Magnetic Surgery ® , today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the company an expanded indication to market the first-of-its-kind Levita ® Magnetic Surgical System for use in prostatectomy procedures. Initially indicated for use in laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) and bariatric surgical procedures, the shaftless Magnetic Surgical System reduces the number of incisions necessary for minimally invasive procedures. Prostatectomy is a surgery performed to treat prostate cancer, which is the second most common cancer among men. Each year, more than 174,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed, and 1 in 9 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. 1 A prostatectomy is commonly recommended if prostate cancer has not spread outside the prostate gland. In this procedure, a surgeon re...

Men are notoriously bad patients. Compared with women, they avoid going to the doctor, skip more recommended screenings and practice riskier behavior. They also die about five years sooner, live with more years of bad health and have higher suicide rates. Now, with growing recognition that treating preventable causes of death and disability could close the medical gender gap, the health-care industry is mounting a new push to get men the care they need. ... https://on.wsj.com/2IRvnMb

After being treated for prostate cancer, some men will experience a rise in PSA levels suggesting that new tumors lurk somewhere in the body. Finding these tiny cancerous deposits before they grow and spread any further is crucially important. But it’s also a challenge, since the budding tumors might be too small to see with standard tools such as magnetic resonance imaging. Now scientists in California have published results with an experimental imaging technique that detects recurring prostate cancer with the best accuracy reported yet. Importantly, some of the unveiled tumors were “still curable with targeted radiation therapy,” said Dr. Thomas Hope, a radiologist at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, who led the study. “That’s what makes the research so exciting.” How the test works The technique used in the study is a modified form of positron emission tomography, or PET scanning. When performing a PET scan, doctors will first give an intravenous i...

A single high dose of radiation that can be delivered directly to the tumour within a few minutes is a safe and effective technique for treating men with low risk prostate cancer, according to a study presented at the ESTRO 38 conference. Radiotherapy traditionally involves a series of lower dose treatments that take place over several days or week. The new treatment is called high dose-rate brachytherapy and it delivers radiation via a set of tiny tubes. Researchers say this technique could offer an effective treatment that is convenient for patients and brings potential time and cost savings for hospitals. The research was presented by Dr Hannah Tharmalingam, a Clinical Research Fellow at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK. She said: "Brachytherapy, where we use temporary catheters to directly treat tumours, has already proved to be a good treatment for prostate cancer, both in terms of killing the cancer cells and m...

Craig Tendler, MD A supplemental new drug application (sNDA) has been submitted to the FDA for the approval of apalutamide (Erleada) for use as a treatment of patients with metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer, according to Janssen, the manufacturer of the next-generation androgen receptor inhibitor. 1 The application is based on data from the phase III TITAN trial (NCT02489318), which showed that apalutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) significantly improved radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with placebo and ADT in this patient population. Full findings from the study will be presented at the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting. The sNDA is being reviewed as part of the FDA’s Real-Time Oncology Review program, which is designed to have a more efficient review process to make therapies more quickly available to patients. Selection into this program does not guarantee or influence approvability of the application, Janssen s...

At least two lawsuits have been filed against UnitedHealthcare in the last two months alleging the insurance company improperly denied patients coverage for a certain type of cancer treatment that insurers have long been reluctant to pay for. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Robert Scola recused himself from deciding one of the lawsuits filed this month in Miami because of personal experience with the cancer treatment, writing in an order of recusal that denying a patient the treatment "is immoral and barbaric." "It is undisputed among legitimate medical experts that proton radiation therapy is not experimental and causes much less collateral damage than traditional radiation," Scola wrote. "To deny a patient this treatment, if it is available, is immoral and barbaric." The treatment, called proton beam therapy, is a radiation therapy used by oncologists to kill cancerous tumors. Compared with traditional radiation, proton therapy is used to target a spec...

The FDA granted priority review to darolutamide for the treatment of men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to the agent’s manufacturers. Darolutamide (BAY-1841788, ODM-201; Bayer, Orion Pharma) is a nonsteroidal androgen receptor antagonist that binds to the receptor, inhibiting the growth of prostate cancer cells. “Bayer is committed to addressing treatment gaps that exist along the continuum of care for men with prostate cancer,” Scott Z. Fields, MD, senior vice president and head of oncology development at Bayer’s Pharmaceutical Division, said in a press release. “With the [new drug application] acceptance and priority review designation, we are an important step closer to bringing darolutamide to patients as quickly as possible.” The decision was based, in part, on data from the multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 ARAMIS trial. The analysis included 1,509 men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer receiving s...

A Team Approach With A Singular Focus — You “ So many doctors and clinics offering so many different solutions. What should you do? ” Whether you are out for dinner at your favorite restaurant,at a movie, the mall or a local sporting event, look around. One in eight men in this country will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives. In 2019, approximately 175,000 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and 31,000 men will die of their disease.It is the most common cancer diagnosed in American men and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men in the United States. At the Lynn Cancer Institute, our team of physicians provides prostate patients with personalized, evidence-based treatment plans utilizing cutting-edge technology.  We offer numerous treatment options — all available in one place. Our program starts with a patient-centered approach to diagnosis and offers comprehensive care for all stages of disease, including clinical trials...

The current standard of care for metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) plus either docetaxel or abiraterone. Growing evidence suggests that metastasis-directed therapy (MDT) and/or local therapy targeted to the primary tumour (ie, prostate) may be of benefit in the setting of oligometastatic disease. Several prospective studies are underway; however, until robust evidence is available to guide treatment decisions, physicians are challenged with how best to manage patients with oligometastases. This comprehensive review aims to collate the available evidence to date for a role of MDT and/or prostate-targeted therapy in the setting of oligometastatic PCa, as well as discuss ongoing trials in this setting. We searched PubMed for the combination of "prostate cancer" and "oligometastatic", "oligometastases", "oligometastasis", "solitary metastases", "stereotactic body radiotherapy", "SBRT...

The FDA granted priority review to darolutamide for the treatment of men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, according to the agent’s manufacturers. Darolutamide (BAY-1841788, ODM-201; Bayer, Orion Pharma) is a nonsteroidal androgen receptor antagonist that binds to the receptor, inhibiting the growth of prostate cancer cells. “Bayer is committed to addressing treatment gaps that exist along the continuum of care for men with prostate cancer,” Scott Z. Fields, MD, senior vice president and head of oncology development at Bayer’s Pharmaceutical Division, said in a press release. “With the [new drug application] acceptance and priority review designation, we are an important step closer to bringing darolutamide to patients as quickly as possible.” The decision was based, in part, on data from the multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 ARAMIS trial. The analysis included 1,509 men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer receiving s...

Milan, Italy: A single high dose of radiation that can be delivered directly to the tumour within a few minutes is a safe and effective technique for treating men with low risk prostate cancer, according to a study presented at the ESTRO 38 conference. Radiotherapy traditionally involves a series of lower dose treatments that take place over several days or week. The new treatment is called high dose-rate brachytherapy and it delivers radiation via a set of tiny tubes. Researchers say this technique could offer an effective treatment that is convenient for patients and brings potential time and cost savings for hospitals. The research was presented by Dr Hannah Tharmalingam, a Clinical Research Fellow at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood, and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK. She said: "Brachytherapy, where we use temporary catheters to directly treat tumours, has already proved to be a good treatment for prostate cancer, both in terms of killing the can...

MEYLAN, France & AUBURNDALE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Leading prostate cancer device company to attend the American Urological Association Annual Meeting at booth #2432 KOELIS, the inventor of Organ-Based Tracking fusion technology (OBT Fusion®) for the diagnosis of prostate cancer, today announced that they will be showcasing their pioneering technology in addition to leading several hands-on educational sessions at this year’s American Urological Association Annual Meeting. KOELIS is committed to providing the latest innovation to the healthcare community when it comes to prostate cancer management. Their tenth year attending the meeting, KOELIS will be involved the following educational sessions: “Recent updates to the 2019 EAU guidelines further validate the need for education when it comes to improving diagnostic results from MRI targeted biopsies,” said Antoine Leroy, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder of KOELIS. “In 2006, I saw an unmet need for navigation techn...