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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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Agent Orange Raises Vietnam Vets' Risk of Recurrent Prostate Cancer
SUNDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure four decades ago to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War appears to boost veterans' risk for a recurrence of prostate cancer even after the organ is surgically removed, a new study shows.
And if the cancer does return, it tends to be more aggressive among veterans exposed to Agent Orange than in those not exposed to the chemical defoliant, the researchers found.
Black veterans are especially vulnerable to these tough-to-treat recurrences, the researchers said.
"This means that we need to make sure that these patients are not lost to follow-up, that their PSAs [prostate specific antigen levels] are checked regularly and that Vietnam veterans are screened aggressively for prostate cancer," said lead researcher Dr. Sagar Shah, a urology resident physician at the Medical College of Georgia. "The quicker that we catch [a recurrence], the more treatment options we have."
Shah's team was to present its findings Sunday at the annual meeting of
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PSA Test Still Important to Detect Prostate Cancer, Studies Find
SUNDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Despite questions as to whether early screening for prostate cancer is accurate, new research suggests it continues to be important.
And even more encouraging news indicates that statins, drugs designed to lower cholesterol, might also reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer. Both sets of findings were presented Sunday at the American Urological Association's annual meeting, in Anaheim, Calif.
Screening for prostate cancer has become controversial, particularly the issue of whether a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test is useful as an early detector of malignancy. Two studies presented at the conference indicate it is still worthwhile to have such a test.
In one study, Dr. Hans Lilja, from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and colleagues found that PSA testing of men in their 40s was predictive of developing prostate cancer later. In fact, the higher the initial PSA, the greater was the probability that the
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Robotic Procedure Improves Survival for Prostate Cancer Patients
MONDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- Using robotic technology to perform laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) surgery may improve survival rates for prostate cancer patients, a new study suggests.
Prostatectomy involves removal of the prostate gland and some of the surrounding tissue.
Urologic oncologists at the Genitourinary Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, in Philadelphia, compared 50 men who had robotic assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) and 197 men who had conventional LRP.
They found that RALP helped reduce positive surgical margins. This refers to when cancer, seen under a microscope, goes to the edge of a tissue specimen, indicating that there are still cancerous cells in the patient.
The overall positive surgical margin rate for the men who had RALP was six percent, compared with 18 percent for the men who had LRP.
The study was slated to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association, in Anaheim,
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Botox Could Treat Enlarged Prostate
WEDNESDAY, May 23 (HealthDay News) -- Apparently, Botox is not just for wrinkles anymore. New research suggests that it may boost the quality of life of men with enlarged prostate when injected directly into the gland.
The small study revealed that about 75 percent of men suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) experienced partial symptom relief following the treatment.
"Many men have enlarged prostate," noted study senior author Dr. Michael B. Chancellor, a professor of urology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "They take pills, but sometimes they don't work, or sometimes they have side effects, and they're afraid of surgery. So now, Botox has been shown to be safe and effective, and a single office injection, which takes about 5 minutes, can achieve success for one entire year. So, it's a new and very exciting alternative that is something between standard drugs and surgery."
Chancellor was slated to present the findings this week in Anaheim, Calif.,
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Breast Cancer Genetics Takes Big Leap Forward
SUNDAY, May 27 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they've moved much closer to untangling the genetic threads that raise a woman's chance for breast cancer.
A set of studies published Sunday in the journals Nature and Nature Genetics identified four new breast cancer susceptibility genes, as well as several genetic markers, that are associated with the risk for the disease and that deserve further investigation.
The findings may be the most important genetic discoveries relating to breast cancer genetics since the identification of the BRCA1 and BRCA 2 susceptibility mutations in 1994, experts say.
"With these three reports, we've doubled or more the number of genes in which inherited variations are known to be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. It's a big quantum of new knowledge," said David Hunter, lead author of one of the papers and co-author on another.
"What we hope will happen is that each of those genes or gene regions will lead us to better und
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Spike in PSA Blood Level Points to Prostate Cancer's Aggressiveness
TUESDAY, May 29 (HealthDay News) -- A rapid rise in blood levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) over the course of a year -- a diagnostic indicator known as "PSA velocity"-- is the single most important marker for a particularly aggressive and deadly form of prostate cancer, new research suggests.
Reporting in the July 1 issue of Cancer, the authors say that an increase by two points or more of PSA over one year is a better predictor of death from prostate cancer than either a one-time "snapshot" of PSA levels at diagnosis, or a doctor's assessment of the stage of cancer prior to treatment.
"We know that, without any other factors, PSA velocity is a very good predictor of prognosis," said study leady author Dr. Anthony V. D'Amico, the chair of genitourinary radiation oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "It all depends on where it's been and where it's going," he said.
The American Cancer Society
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Heart Disease Marker May Predict Prostate Cancer's Course
FRIDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- A protein that is used as a marker of heart disease may also predict survival odds and response to chemotherapy for men with advanced prostate cancer.
There is already a simple blood test available for the protein, called C-reactive protein (CRP), which is produced by the liver and is elevated in the presence of inflammation.
"If a second study is confirmatory, then we have a readily available blood test that could now be used to inform physicians and patients what they can expect from the cancer, which is important in planning treatment," said study senior author Dr. Tomasz Beer, director of the prostate cancer research program at the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute.
The findings are expected to be presented June 1 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago.
Over the last several years, investigators have begun looking at the role of CRP in a range of cancers. "There's a growing body of information
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Ginseng, Flaxseed May Help Cancer Patients
SATURDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers are discovering glimmers of hope in alternative therapies for various cancers.
Two studies being presented Saturday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago found some promise in ginseng in easing cancer-linked fatigue and flaxseed for the treatment of prostate cancer. A third study, however, seems to shut the door on shark cartilage as an antidote for lung cancer.
Flaxseed, when taken daily for 30 days, seemed to slow the growth of prostate tumors, researchers say.
In this study, 161 men scheduled to undergo prostatectomy were divided into four groups: one maintaining their regular diet; one taking 30 grams of flaxseed daily for a month prior to surgery; one in which men restricted their dietary fat; and one in which men took flaxseed and restricted their dietary fat.
Men who were taking flaxseed, in either the low-fat or normal diet group, had the slowest rate of tumor growth, reported researc
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Gene Therapy Reverses Erectile Dysfunction in Rats
SUNDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) -- Gene therapy using nerve growth factors reversed erectile dysfunction in rats within four weeks, say University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers.
Erectile dysfunction (ED) affects between 15 million and 30 million men in the United States. Many men suffer nerve damage-related ED after surgery for prostate cancer.
The Pittsburgh team found that the genes for the "glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor" (GDNF) and the GDNF family ligand, called neurturin, were both effective in treating erectile dysfunction in the rats. The genes were placed in a genetically engineered herpes simplex virus, which was then injected into the rats' damaged cavernous nerve.
The finding suggests a potential new treatment
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Prostate Cancer Treatment Can Speed Heart Attacks
FRIDAY, June 8 (HealthDay News) -- The male hormone-suppressing treatment used against aggressive prostate cancer may help bring on earlier heart attacks in older men, new research suggests.
"The new finding is that in men who have risk factors for heart attack, even six months of androgen-suppression therapy [and] maybe as little as three months, can cause a heart attack to occur sooner by about 2.5 years," said lead researcher Dr. Anthony D'Amico, chief of genitourinary radiation oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
That finding, which comes from analysis of pooled data of studies in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, does not mean that such men should not be treated to suppress the activity of androgens -- male sex hormones that spur the growth of prostate cancer cells, D'Amico said.
Instead, "the implication is that a man who needs hormonal therapy to avoid dying from cancer but also has risk factors for heart
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Health Highlights: June 18, 2007
Prostate Cancer Report Grades States
World's Oldest Man is 111
Infants at Risk for Elevator Injuries
Women with Twin Brother Less Likely to Have Children
Scientists Identify Hearing Loss Gene
Asthmatics With Gene Defect May Need More Medicine
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Fish Oil Might Slow Prostate Cancer
THURSDAY, June 21 (HealthDay News) -- A new study with mice suggests that diets high in omega-3 fatty acids from fish might help slow prostate cancer.
The comparable levels of dietary omega-3s used in the study "are much higher than the average Western diet, but they are not unachievable," said senior researcher Yong Chen, a professor of cancer biology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Omega-3 fatty acids -- especially the "long-chain" forms found in oily fish -- have become the latest nutrition superstars, with studies suggesting they can help prevent heart disease and even cancer.
The exact mechanism driving the purported anti-cancer effect is still unclear, Chen said. One leading theory contends that specific cellular enzymes metabolize omega-3s in ways that retard malignancy.
However, Chen's team is investigating
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Clinical Trials Update: June 28, 2007
Fungal Infections
Prostate Cancer
Pancreatitis
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Prostate Cancer Gene Also Raises Colon Cancer Risk
SUNDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- Compelling evidence from four studies confirms that a key change in DNA previously linked to prostate cancer also raises colon cancer risk, scientists report.
They stress that the risk to any individual carrier of the rs6983267 variant gene -- which is located on a region of chromosome 8 called 8q24 -- are relatively slight. Overall, carriers of this variant have about a 20 percent higher risk of developing a colorectal malignancy compared to non-carriers, the researchers said.
The gene's real power comes in its prevalence.
According to scientists, the number of people who carry the variant on region 8q24 includes about half of the populations studied, researchers say.
"In other words, it is very common in the general population," said Dr. Malcolm Dunlop, of Cancer Research UK and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Dunlop, the lead investigator on one of three studies published in the July 8 online edition of Nature Genetics, told r
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