Of men with early-stage prostate cancer who choose active surveillance (sometimes called watchful waiting), only about 15% follow up with suggested monitoring, according to early results of a study (Chen et al) reported by University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study—which was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting—included 346 men who were diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2011 and 2013. Guidelines recommend PSA testing at least every 6 months, a yearly digital rectal exam (DRE), and a biopsy within 18 months of diagnosis ..read more

Blocking a protein known as BRD4 may be a new way to help prevent the spread (metastasis) of prostate cancer that is resistant to hormone therapy (castration-resistant prostate cancer or CRPC). This is an important discovery by Boston University School of Medicine researchers (Shafran et al) because CRPC is a highly aggressive form of the disease that often stops responding to hormone treatment after a few years. While this was a laboratory study in prostate cancer cell lines, the results are promising ..read more

We already know from previous studies that coffee consumption may inhibit progression of prostate cancer (but the “how coffee does it” has not been made clear). Now Japanese researchers (Iwamoto et al, in The Prostate) have targeted 2 compounds in Arabica coffee (kahweol acetate and cafestol) that were shown to inhibit grow of prostate cancer cells in mice in a pilot study, including cells that were resistant to chemotherapy. While interesting, we are still at the early “petri-dish” phase of this science, and the researchers tested the compounds in mice, not men. Further testing is needed to d ..read more

Men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer who added enzalutamide (brand name XTANDI) to their androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) had a significantly reduced risk (by 61%, P ..read more

Men 66 years or older who treat their (nonmetastatic) prostate cancer with surgery or radiation are more likely to take antidepressant medications than men who do not undergo treatment, according to a new study (Matta et al) that was published online in European Urology. Researchers looked at data from over 12,000 men with prostate cancer (4,952 had surgery, 4,994 had radiation, and 2,136 had surveillance). One year prior to starting treatment, 7.7% of men were prescribed an antidepressant, which increased to 10.5% a year after their treatment. Men also had an increased risk of using antidepre ..read more

Two drugs used together may be more effective for erectile dysfunction (ED) following the failure of either drug alone, according to an article (Moncada et al, 2018) published in the International Journal of Impotence Research. The clinicians looked at various published articles about two drugs for ED: first-line phosphodiesterease-5 inhibitors (PDE5Is) and alprostadil, which is often a second-line choice by physicians. They suggest that combination therapy may be a treatment option for men to consider following prostatectomy, if they have had a poor response to either drug alone ..read more

To those of us who have been watching, it comes as no surprise that a recent study has found that prostate cancer screenings are down, which has led to fewer American men being diagnosed and treated. Part of the decline is no doubt a direct result of the 2012 US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation against prostate cancer screening. But the numbers started to fall in 2009, according to a new study of 6 million men published in the online edition of CANCER. Specifically, the prostate cancer biopsy rate per 100 men following a PSA test decreased from 1.95 to 1.52 (over the stud ..read more

Wives of men with advanced prostate cancer believe that their lives are being undermined by their husband’s illness—and more than half said their own health had suffered—according to a new (but small) study by Danish researchers from Herlev and Gentofte University Hospital. The study included 56 wives of men with metastatic prostate cancer who were undergoing hormone therapy. The researchers selected 8 women (randomly) to conduct focus-group type interviews, which allowed them to express their feelings. Some of the women said they felt isolated and fearful and worried about how their role in l ..read more

There was an interesting onclive.com article this week by Danielle Bucco discussing the results of the 10-year PROTECT study that was published last year (Hamdy et al). In this study, the survival rate of men with localized prostate cancer was not significantly different between 3 groups, including men on active monitoring, men who had external beam radiation therapy, and men who had radical prostatectomy. The primary outcome was prostate-cancer mortality at a median of 10 years of follow-up. Only 1% mortality was reported in each group. What’s interesting about this study is that the research ..read more

Recently, there was a very interesting Washington Post article about immunotherapy and the host of strange side effects that some cancer patients are starting to experience, such as myocarditis, type 1 diabetes, and rashes. My husband and I had a potential PSA-on-the-rise scare recently and his urologist mentioned the hope he has for immunotherapy for prostate cancer. This article certainly gave us some pause about whether he would opt for immunotherapy versus traditional hormone depravation therapy. According to the consensus recommendations from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC ..read more