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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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Frequent Prostate Screens Fail to Improve Aggressive Cancer Diagnoses
TUESDAY, Aug. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Being screened for prostate cancer more often does improve disease detection overall, but it doesn't help doctors spot aggressive cancers better, a new study finds.
The researchers looked at more than 17,000 men who had prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing every two years or every four years. Among 4,202 Swedish men screened every two years, the overall incidence of prostate cancer diagnosis over 10 years was 13.14 percent, compared to 8.41 percent among the 13,301 Dutch men who were screened every four years, said the researchers from Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
The total number of interval cancers -- those diagnosed based on symptoms during the years between screening tests -- was 31 (0.74 percent) among the Swedish men and 57 (0.43 percent) among the Dutch men.
The differences in the interval cancer rates and aggressive interval cancer rates between the two groups were not statistically significant, the study
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HIV Drug Might Fight Cancer
SATURDAY, Sept. 1 (HealthDay News) -- A drug used as part of a regimen to treat HIV also appears to kill cancer cells, researchers from the U.S. National Cancer Institute report.
Based on this new finding, the HIV protease inhibitor nelfinavir is being used in a phase I clinical trial to determine what might be the safest and most effective dose for cancer patients. This strategy of finding new uses for existing drugs could have a major impact on treating cancer and other diseases, the researchers added.
"This could be a new approach to finding cancer drugs and cut the time for getting them approved," said lead researcher Dr. Phillip A. Dennis. "Repositioning drugs that are already FDA-approved could accelerate the development of new cancer therapies."
The researchers hit upon the idea of testing nelfinavir and other protease inhibitors as cancer drugs, because these drugs block Akt, a protein essential for the development of many types of cancer, including non-small cell lung
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Test Spots Genetic Damage Done by Smoking
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental lung cancer screening test designed to look for precancerous genetic damage could help better identify patients at risk for the disease, while opening up the possibility for earlier diagnoses and preventive treatments, a new study suggests.
The procedure enabled the researchers to screen people for evidence of chromosomal abnormalities in the lungs that are found among virtually all lung cancer patients. More than 80 percent of patients who did not yet have lung cancer -- but whose smoking placed them at high-risk -- were found to have such disease biomarkers.
"We were able to see precancerous genetic changes in the bronchial cells lining the airways of the lungs in both high-risk smokers and in patients who have lung cancer in another part of the lung," said lead author Dr. Wilbur A. Franklin, a professor of pathology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Reporting in the September issue of the American Jo
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Clinical Trials Update: Sept. 5, 2007
Hot Flash
Healthy Patient Studies
Endometriosis
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Barbershop Talks Cut Black Men's Prostate Cancer Risk
THURSDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- For thousands of black American men, getting a haircut now means cutting their risk for prostate cancer, too.
That's because a new program -- inspired by a motion picture -- has already enlisted 4,000 barbers nationwide to provide prostate cancer education and screening to minority men.
The 2004 movie Barbershop highlighted a natural neighborhood gathering place for black men. Its implications were picked up immediately by Virgil Simons, a black textile industry executive turned cancer crusader.
"Twelve years ago I was operated on for prostate cancer," Simons said. "The whole process energized me."
He founded what has become The Prostate Net, with its own Web site (www.theprostatenet.com) and toll-free telephone line (888-477-6763). According to Simons, for the past 11 years Prostate Net "has been involved in educating people about the disease and teaching them how to empower themselves."
American black males remain the target popula
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Clinical Trials Update: Sept. 10, 2007
Depression (Treatment-Resistant)
Emphysema
Prostate Cancer
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Clinical Trials Update: Sept. 14, 2007
High Cholesterol
Prostate Cancer
Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorders
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Tomato Diet Can't Guarantee Prostate Health: Study
FRIDAY, Sept. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Men who've been adding vitamin E or the tomato nutrient lycopene to their diets to cut their risk of prostate cancer may need to think again.
According to a new study, neither carotenoids (such as lycopene), retinol, nor tocopherols (forms of vitamin E) appear to reduce the odds of prostate malignancy -- findings that are in line with two other recent publications.
"Our overall findings are null," said lead researcher Timothy Key, deputy director of the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford, U.K.
"This large study does not support the hypothesis that consuming large amounts of these nutrients will reduce prostate cancer," he added. "That is disappointing, but that is the overall message."
The findings are published in the September issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
His team examined the effect of the blood levels of 10 micronutrients on the risk of developing prostate cancer for almost 2
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More Prostate Cancers Might Be Prevented
MONDAY, Sept. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Prostate cancer prevention studies conducted since the 1990s are poised to revolutionize the field in the next five years, a Canadian analysis concludes.
"I am optimistic that for the coming generation, beginning with men in their 20s and 30s, we will have a viable strategy to decrease the chance of developing prostate cancer later in life," said study lead author Dr. Neil Fleshner.
A professor of surgery, Fleshner heads the division of urology at Princess Margaret Hospital, part of the University Health Network at the University of Toronto.
His team's overview of the last 15 years of prostate cancer prevention research is published in the Nov. 1 issue of Cancer.
According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), cancer of the prostate is the most common non-skin cancer among American men. Most patients diagnosed with the disease do not ultimately die of it. However, because of its high prevalence, prostate cancer remains the third b
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Wine, Beer, Spirits Boost Breast Cancer Risk Equally
THURSDAY, Sept. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Three or more drinks a day boosts a woman's risk for breast cancer by 30 percent. And it doesn't seem to matter which form of alcohol -- wine, beer, or spirits -- is consumed, researchers report.
"The majority of previous studies have found an association between alcohol and elevated breast cancer risk," said lead researcher Dr. Yan Li, an oncologist at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif.
What hasn't been as clear, she said, is how much alcohol raises the risk and whether one type of alcohol boosts that risk more than another.
Li tackled those questions with Dr. Arthur Klatsky, an investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland and a long-time researcher on the health benefits and risks of alcoholic beverages. Klatsky is due to present the team's findings Sept. 27 at the European Cancer Conference in Barcelona, Spain.
The researchers first evaluated the drinking habits of more than 70,000 women, all members of th
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Study Supports Change to Prostate Cancer Biopsy
TUESDAY, Oct. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Adding an extra step to the standard test for prostate cancer might improve treatment for some men, a new study finds.
Doctors now use what's known as the Gleason test -- named for the physician who developed it -- as a major tool in judging how aggressively a prostate cancer should be treated, explained lead researcher Dr. Abhijit A. Patel, a radiation oncologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
His team published its findings in the Oct. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In the Gleason test, doctors take a biopsy of the cancer and look at the level of disorder displayed by cells in the two largest sections of the sample -- scoring them from 1 (less disorderly) to 5 (more disorderly).
"The less it looks like normal tissue, the more aggressive [the cancer] is," Patel explained. They then add up the two numbers to arrive at a Gleason score. A score of 7 calls for treatment such as radiation therapy, Pate
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PSA Testing Still Valuable for Prostate Cancer
SUNDAY, Oct. 7 (HealthDay News) -- For several years, doctors have debated the value of the prostate-specific antigen test to determine a man's risk for prostate cancer.
But now, a consensus seems to be emerging -- it's not the level of the antigen in the blood that helps predict the likelihood of aggressive disease, but whether that level is rising rapidly or not.
Men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels that are growing rapidly -- even if those levels are still low -- should consider themselves at increased risk, said Howard Soules, executive vice president for the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the world's largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research.
"Right now, if your PSA velocity is going up at an extreme rate, you need some additional monitoring for prostate cancer," Soules said.
The prostate gland, which produces seminal fluid, is part of the male reproductive system and is located in front of the rectum and under the bladder. It surroun
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Prostate Cancer Survival Varies by Season
SUNDAY, Oct. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the summer and fall have a better chance of survival than those diagnosed in the spring and winter, a new study of Norwegian men suggests.
"Summer and autumn months correspond to times when vitamin D is highest (in Norway). Although the study does not prove vitamin D is the determining factor, it does suggest that this possibility should be studied further," study co-author Dr. Tomasz Beer, director of the prostate cancer program at the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute, said in a prepared statement.
In the study, a team of American and Norwegian researchers analyzed data for more than 46,000 Norwegian men diagnosed with prostate cancer from 1964 to 1992.
Compared with men diagnosed in the summer and fall, those diagnosed in the winter and spring were 20 percent more likely to die within three years after diagnosis. The study was published in the journal The Prostate.
The researchers
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Surgery Best Bet for Prostate Cancer Survival
MONDAY, Oct. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Surgery may offer the best chance of long-term survival for prostate cancer patients, a Swiss study suggests.
Researchers at Geneva University found that prostate cancer patients who had surgery were less likely to die of the disease within 10 years than men who had other types of treatment. Surgery seemed especially beneficial for younger patients or those who had prostate cancer with certain tumor cell characteristics.
The study, reported in the Oct. 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, included 844 men with localized prostate cancer. Of those, 158 had prostatectomy (surgery to remove part or all of the prostate); 205 had radiation treatment (radiotherapy); 378 chose watchful waiting (monitoring and treatment if the disease progresses); 72 had hormone therapy; and 31 had another type of therapy.
Ten-year survival rates were 83 percent for prostatectomy, 75 percent for radiotherapy; 72 percent for watchful waiting, 41 percent for hormon
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