Prostate Cancer

First, what does PSA mean? So you've had your PSA test, and it came back high. Your doctor did a DRE and ran a few more tests, and assures you that prostate cancer is very unlikely. Still, you're worried. What are some other causes of a high PSA? PSA: prostate specific antigen is a protein made by prostate cells. A healthy prostate releases only small amounts of this protein into the bloodstream, but when some cancer has begun to develop, the affected cells pump out more. A simple blood test can detect PSA and is used as a screening test for prostate cancer. DRE: digital rectal exam. A prostate in which cancer has begun to grow may change in size and shape. In this exam, a doctor inserts a lubricated, gloved finger about two inches into the rectum and assesses the prostate. Men may be uncomfortable with the idea of this test, but in reality, it takes less than a minute. The PSA test, and, if needed, the DRE, are your best defense against prostate cancer—which is highly ...

In January 2020, the FDA approved the use of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for patients with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-unresponsive, high-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) with carcinoma in situ with or without papillary tumors who are either ineligible for or have elected not to undergo cystectomy. The approval came after a somewhat split Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee vote of 9-4, where even some members who voted yes expressed concerns about the approval. "One reason there seems to be some debate about the use of pembrolizumab in this patient population is if you have BCG-unresponsive high-risk disease that keeps coming back, the question is whether the patient should just get the bladder removed," said Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). The current guideline-recommended treatment for BCG-unresponsive NMIBC is radical cystectomy. However, surgery is associated with decreased quality of life and high complic...

Read the Full Video Transcript Linda Budzinski: Can you comment on your experience with PYLARIFY DCF PyL and how it impacts your management of men at staging? Does it potentially change your surgical approach? Second, do you think these PSMA scans will replace conventional imaging and staging? And third, in the BCR setting, what is your threshold for PSMA scanning if would you have one? Micheal Gorin: With respect to the first two questions, which surround staging, I do think it's helpful in patients who appear on the basis of conventional imaging to be clinically localized, but for whom you're worried that they have metastatic disease. We found in a phase 2 study that we did leading up to the OSPREY study, where we took patients with high-risk disease and we imaged them, that there was 25 patients in the study, but 1 of the 25 actually had widespread metastatic disease. And this was clearly a patient for whom, if we did a radical prostatectomy, we probably subjected them to ...

Published: October 20, 2020 Key Takeaway: Rectal cancer and anal cancer may often be confused due to the close proximity of the rectum and the anus; however, they are two distinct diseases with different risk factors and treatments. What is the main difference between rectal and anal cancer? Fundamentally, the difference between anal cancer and rectal cancer has to do with the type of cells that grow rather than the location of the cancer. Anal cancer is a squamous cancer, or a cancer of the skin-like cells of the anal canal. Anal cancer can even occur in the rectum. Rectal cancer is an adenocarcinoma, or a cancer of the glandular cells of the colon. This cancer can extend into the anal canal, but is derived from the glandular tissue rather than the skin. Almost 90% of anal cancer cases are related to a human papilloma virus (HPV) infection, whereas rectal cancer is not related to HPV. Anal cancer is also significantly less common than rectal cancer. What are the symptoms of rectal c...

Acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) is a rare type of cancer that affects the pigments in a person's skin, specifically on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and nail beds. ALM is an aggressive form of melanoma. When detected early, it can be cured by surgically removing the lesion. However, diagnosis presents challenges, especially for those who are not diagnosed early. This article discusses the symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and treatment of ALM. 35007 / Getty Images  Types of Acral Lentiginous Melanoma The two primary characteristics of ALM are: Location : "Acral" means "extremity" in Greek, which describes the location where this skin cancer appears (hands and feet). There's a subtype of this melanoma that is found in the nail beds, called subungual melanoma. Lesion coloration : "Lentiginous" refers to the freckled pigmented appearance of the spots or lesions. They can be a different, da...

Introduction Hypopharyngeal carcinoma (HPC) is the most aggressive subtype of head and neck cancer. Over recent decades, the incidence of HPC has increased each year. 1 In addition, the prognosis of HPC is often poor, because its hidden anatomical location hinders detection. 2 Currently, HPC treatment remains based on surgical resection, supplemented by adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 3,4 With the continual improvements in diagnostic technology and therapy methods, the survival rates of patients with HPC have also increased. However, with this increased survival time, multiple complications have begun to be observed. 5 Secondary primary malignancy (SPM), a long-term complication of cancer, has received increasing interest in recent years. 6,7 Numerous studies have shown that SPM often occurs after the treatment of various solid tumors. 8,9 Previous studies on SPM have focused mostly on other types of head and neck cancer, but rarely on HPC. 10,11 Smoking, drinking, ...

MISSION, Kan. , Nov. 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- (Family Features) If you have avoided events and activities you enjoy because of urgent and frequent trips to the bathroom, you may not be alone. Continue Reading Men over the age of 45, with urinary symptoms common with an enlarged prostate, also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), may anticipate and plan for urgent and frequent bathroom needs. Whether they rearrange their morning schedules in anticipation of interrupted sleep, limit the amount they drink or purposefully seek out and stay close to the bathroom, this "extreme bathroom planning" can disrupt normal daily activities. These findings are the result of a survey sponsored by Teleflex Incorporated of approximately 1,000 men in the United States , 45 years and older, who have experienced at least one urinary symptom associated with BPH. 1 These activities are signs that you may be an extreme bathroom planner. If you answer "ye...

Japan Data Society Health Nov 29, 2021 Cancer was once said to be incurable, but the survival rate has steadily increased alongside medical advances. The earlier a cancer is detected, the higher the survival rate, so that the 10-year survival rate can exceed 90% depending on the area of the body affected. A study conducted by the National Cancer Center Japan and other institutions found that the 10-year survival rate for patients diagnosed with cancer between 2005 and 2008 was 58.9%. This is a 0.6 percentage point increase over the previous survey (for diagnoses between 2004 and 2007). The survival rate has been on an upward trend since 2016, when the first results of the regular study were released. The study targeted 121,000 people who were diagnosed at 32 member institutions of the Japanese Asso...

CHICAGO ― The long-term side effects of hypofractionated postoperative prostate bed radiotherapy (HYPORT) for prostate cancer are similar to those of conventional radiotherapy, a new study concludes. "Hypofractionation is a strategy for shortening treatment by giving larger doses per fraction and is an accepted practice standard for intact prostate cancer," commented the lead author, Mark K. Buyyounouski, MD. NRG-GU003 is the first study to compare a short course of higher-dose radiotherapy with the well-established, standard 7-week course of radiotherapy for patients who have undergone radical prostatectomy, he noted. The results showed no clinically or statistically significant differences between the two treatments on the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC) with respect to gastrointestinal (GI) or genitourinary (GU) toxicities at 2 years ( P = .12). Although patients who received HYPORT initially expe...

When you are first diagnosed with bladder cancer, your doctors will perform tests to determine the stage and grade of your disease. The bladder cancer staging and grading processes help your doctors make treatment decisions and estimate your chance of recovery.   Bladder cancer is a growth that starts in the inner wall of the bladder, the organ that collects and expels urine created by the kidneys. The bladder has three layers of muscular walls that make up its structure. A cancerous growth in the bladder can grow uncontrollably and start spreading to other parts of the body. When doctors first diagnose a cancerous tumor of any kind, they assess how much it has grown, how far it has spread in the body, and how abnormal, or wild, the cancerous cells in the tumor look. These assessments are used to determine cancer's stage (0 to IV) and grade. Doctors use the staging information to compare treatment options and patient outcomes. Staging and ...