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Prostate Cancer
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Definition of Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is a disease in which cells in the prostate gland become abnormal and start to grow uncontrollably, forming tumors.
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Periodic Health Checkups Boost Cancer Screening Rates
For people age 50 and older, getting a checkup every year or two may improve the likelihood they'll get the cancer screenings experts recommend, a U.S. study finds.
"Because people go to the doctor anyway when they feel sick or have a medical problem, some authorities have questioned whether preventive, or general, health examinations are worth the extra time and effort," study lead author Joshua Fenton, assistant professor of family and community medicine at the University of California, Davis, said in a prepared statement.
"Our study suggests they are. If people over 50 have checkups every year or two, they're more likely to go ahead and get the cancer screenings they need," Fenton said.
The two-year study, published in the March 26 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, included over 64,000 patients, ages 52 to 78, who were eligible for breast, colon or prostate cancer screenings. Patients who had a regular checkup during t
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FDA Panel Backs Prostate Cancer Vaccine
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted Thursday to support approval of Provenge, a vaccine aimed at extending survival for patients with deadly metastatic prostate cancer.
The FDA panel voted unanimously that the vaccine was "reasonably safe," noting that while it failed to meet some study endpoints, it did extend patient survival, according to published reports.
The panel then voted 13-to-4 to say there was substantial evidence to show the vaccine was effective for treating advanced prostate cancer that no longer responds to standard hormone treatment.
The FDA does not have to follow the advice of its advisory panels, but it typically does. The agency is expected to make its final decision by May 15.
Hopes have been high for the vaccine, which researchers said was the first ever shown to have an impact on cancer patients' survival. Those claims were based on a three-year study, released early in 2005, of 127 men with
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Health Highlights: April 2, 2007
FDA Extends Comment Period on Foods From Cloned Animals
'Friendly' Soil Bacteria May Boost Mood
Scientists Identify DNA Changes Linked to Prostate Cancer
Scientists Grow Human Heart Valve From Stem Cells
FDA Approves Combination Diabetes Drug, Maker Says
Simple Tests Detect Placental Damage
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Hormone Therapy for Advanced Prostate Cancer Not for Everyone
For men with advanced prostate cancer, starting hormone therapy quickly comes with benefits and risks that may -- in some cases -- cancel each other out, according to new guidelines issued by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
"The message is that immediate use of hormones does reduce the risk of dying of prostate cancer by about 17 percent," explained the guidelines' lead author, Dr. Andrew Loblaw, a radiation oncologist at Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center in Canada. "But also, early use of hormone therapy increased the risk of dying of something else by about 15 percent, so there is no survival advantage. This is something that men and their physicians need to discuss," he said.
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PSA May Be Poor Predictor of Lethal Prostate Cancer
The standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test is not helpful in predicting lethal prostate cancers in men who are not treated but are placed under "watchful waiting" by their doctors, Swedish researchers say.
"Unfortunately, it turned out to be an inaccurate tool," said Dr. Katja Fall, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and lead author of a report in the April 4 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
But one U.S. expert, Dr. Anthony D'Amico of Harvard Medical School, Boston, said it was too soon to write off the usefulness of the PSA test for these patients, noting that the study has had far too short a follow-up to draw any solid conclusions.
Watchful waiting is a common strategy in prostate cancer, which often progresses slowly -- especially so in many older men. Because the cancer is often diagnosed in older men, one common saying in the field is that "more men die with their prosta
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Clinical Trials Update: April 10, 2007
Menstrual Disorders
Prostate Cancer
Heartburn
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Marijuana Compound May Fight Lung Cancer
While smoking marijuana is never good for the lungs, the active ingredient in pot may help fight lung cancer, new research shows.
Harvard University researchers have found that, in both laboratory and mouse studies, delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cuts tumor growth in half in common lung cancer while impeding the cancer's ability to spread.
The compound "seems to have a suppressive effect on certain lines of cancer cells," explained Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
According to the researchers, THC fights lung cancer by curbing epidermal growth factor (EGF), a molecule that promotes the growth and spread of particularly aggressive non-small cell lung cancers. "It seems to go to (EGF) receptor sites on cells and inhibit growth," said Horovitz, who was not involved in the study.
The findings are preliminary, however, and other outside experts urged caution.
"It's an interesting labor
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Better Prostate Cancer Test May Be Near
A test that focuses on a blood protein produced by prostate cancer cells may improve disease diagnosis, researchers report.
Levels of this protein, called prostate cancer antigen-2 (EPCA-2), appear to give a more accurate picture of cancer present in the body, experts say.
"We've been able to show that blood levels of it are low in normal individuals and high in prostate cancer, and that it distinguishes between cancers that are confined to the prostate and those that have spread outside the gland," explained study lead researcher Dr. Robert H. Getzenberg, professor of urology and director of research at Johns Hopkins University's James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, in Baltimore.
His team published its findings in the May issue of Urology.
Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in American men. There will be some 218,890 new cases in the United States this year and 27,050 deaths linked to the disease, the American Cancer
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Imaging Technique Could Help Fight Metastatic Cancers
A new imaging technique that measures diffusion of water through tumors may help guide the treatment of advanced prostate cancer that's spread to the bones, says a study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
This technique, called a functional diffusion map, uses an MRI scan and special software to monitor the movement of water through tumor cells over the course of treatment. As tumor cells die, this diffusion of water increases, the researchers explain.
In the study, the Michigan team tested the technique in mice with metastatic prostate cancer.
Mice that received chemotherapy showed progressive changes over the three weeks of treatment, while mice that did not receive chemotherapy had little or no change in water diffusion.
When the researchers removed the tumors from the mice, they found that the functional diffusion map had accurately measured tumor response to treatment. The study was published i
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Health Highlights: May 4, 2007
Feeling Useful Boosts Older Adults' Physical Ability
High-Dose Radiotherapy Benefits Prostate Cancer Patients
Blood Test Predicts Bone Marrow Transplant Complications
U.N. Climate Change Report Approved
Seizure Drug Increases Risk of Mental Deficits in Offspring
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Health Highlights: May 5, 2007
20 Million Chickens Kept Off U.S Market Pending Inspection of Feed
FDA Issues Guidelines to Test for Lethal Substance Sometimes Found in Cough Syrup
Feeling Useful Boosts Older Adults' Physical Ability
High-Dose Radiotherapy Benefits Prostate Cancer Patients
Blood Test Predicts Bone Marrow Transplant Complications
U.N. Climate Change Report Approved
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Health Highlights: May 6, 2007
Internet Unborn Baby Gender Test Draws Fire
Autistic Children Miss Visual Cues in Facial Expressions, Study Finds
20 Million Chickens Kept Off U.S Market Pending Inspection of Feed
FDA Issues Guidelines to Test for Lethal Substance Sometimes Found in Cough Syrup
Feeling Useful Boosts Older Adults' Physical Ability
High-Dose Radiotherapy Benefits Prostate Cancer Patients
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Heavy Multivitamin Use May Raise Prostate Cancer Risk
TUESDAY, May 15 (HealthDay News) -- Popping more than one multivitamin a day could boost a man's risk for prostate cancer by nearly a third, according to a new study from the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
"Taking them more than seven times a week was associated with a 32 percent increased risk of advanced prostate and for fatal prostate cancer [it had] nearly a doubling of risk, compared to men who did not take multivitamins," said researcher Dr. Michael F. Leitzmann, an investigator in the NCI's division of cancer epidemiology and genetics.
On the other hand, "Taking multivitamins seven times a week was not associated with an increased incidence of prostate cancer," he added.
The association with heavy use of multivitamins and increased risk was strongest for men with a prior family history of prostate cancer or those who took individual micronutrient supplements such as selenium, beta-carotene or zinc, said a report by Leitzmann and his colleagues in the Journal of the Nat
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Tomatoes No Magic Bullet For Prostate Cancer
THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Lycopene, the much-touted cancer fighting antioxidant found in tomatoes and ketchup, is ineffective in preventing prostate cancer, a new study finds.
In fact, higher intake of another antioxidant found in many vegetables, beta-carotene, appears to increase the risk for aggressive prostate cancer, researchers report. Many Americans also take beta-carotene in supplements.
The new study, involving more than 28,000 men, "hampers our enthusiasm for a beneficial effect of lycopene," said lead author Ulrike Peters, a research assistant professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. "Tomatoes, and tomato found in ketchup and pizza, don't reduce the risk for prostate cancer," she added.
The report is published in the May issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
In their study, Peters and colleagues collected data on men enrolled in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. All of the m
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