Today was my PSA blood test, a ritual I must undergo every four months or so in order to check if the drug I am currently taking is still effective in controlling my cancer. I was always somewhat apprehensive when test day occurred even earlier in my 23-year history of prostate cancer. But now, as more »
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) publishes an e mail blog entitited Current Contents to which one can subscribe. On January 23rd, their blog focused on non-opiod methods of managing cancer pain (see below). Pain is a common and much-feared symptom among people being treated for cancer and long-term more »
The Prostate Cancer Research Institute (PCRI) has produced several short videos covering many aspects of the disease including, imunotherapy, brachytherapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), sexual disfunction, testosterone levels, and more. The speakers include Dr. Mark Moyad, Dr. Eugene Kwon from the Mayo Clinic and others. It is my understanding that such videos will become available more »
“If you want to feel small, just imagine moving at 34 thousand miles per hour for forty years and getting—astronomically speaking—nowhere. Late last year, the Voyager 2 space probe became the second craft to ever leave our solar system. Now 11 billion miles from earth, it is one of the farthest-flung man-made objects in existence. more »
I’ll bet you have never seen the words “Christmas” and “prostate cancer” linked before. Let me start by addressing some personal thoughts about Christmas. When Jesus was born, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, the father of Jesus, and explicitly told him to name the baby “Immanuel” which means “God with us” (Matthew more »
Age. In general, a normal PSA range for men in their 40’s is 0-2.5 ng/mL; men in their 50’s, 0-4 ng/mL; 60’s, 0-4.5 ng/mL; and 70’s, 0-6.5 ng/mL. Ethnicity may shift these values slightly as well. Prostate size. A man with a larger-than-normal prostate gland may have a higher PSA level. A digital rectal exam more »
Rubraca (rucaparib), Clovis Oncology‘s oral PARP inhibitor, shrank tumors in 44% of metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients with BRCA mutations included in the Phase 2 TRITON2 clinical trial. The treatment, which is already approved for ovarian cancer, also reduced PSA levels — a biomarker of prostate cancer — in 51.1% of patients with BRCA more »
Today I awaited the result of my next test for prostate-specific antigen, better known as PSA. In the past, this wait has many times been accompanied by some degree of anxiety. But this time, I had purposed in my heart and mind to release the outcome to the Lord’s care whatever the result may be. more »
As I write this post, it constitutes the 1,000,000+ hit on this website which I can only trust has been a help and a blessing to some of you since I was prompted to share my personal story via a blog. As I write it, it has been 23 years since I was first diagnosed more »
When all is going well, I don’t usually get anxious except perhaps when I am due for my next PSA test or scan. Faced with upcoming medical decisions and testing, I confess that in the past I have had a bad habit of anticipating the worst scenario because then the final outcome can only be more »
For the most part, MRI imaging for prostate cancer is safe. In some cases, contrast agents are needed to be injected into the human body in order to get a better picture or scan. Many of the contrast agents utilized contain the heavy metal, gadolinium. These injected agents help physicians see internal organs, blood vessels more »
I know this website is focused on providing information to men whose prostate cancers are at any stage. Hopefully most of us may not die of prostate cancer although in my own case, that is definitely a possibility. For myself and I know for many of you as well, our Christian faith and our personal more »
Immunotherapy with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) may be an effective way to treat some cases of advanced prostate cancer according to a preliminary study conducted at Oregon Health and Science University – Knight Cancer Institute. Findings were published in the journal Oncotarget in a paper entitled “Early evidence of anti-PD-1 activity in enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer.” Keytruda is a more »
OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals will soon start a Phase 2 clinical trial of its investigational vaccine ProscaVax in men with early-stage prostate cancer under “active surveillance”. ProscaVax consists of a combination of the PSA protein produced by the prostate gland with the cytokines interleukin-2 (IL-2) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). [Cytokines are molecules that participate in more »
In catching up on some news from a few months ago, I realized that much had been written recently about treating men with an early stage of advanced prostate cancer. So here is some information in addition to the following posts; The FDA Approves Apalutamide for Some Men with Prostate Cancer; and Xtandi Extends Metastasis-Free Survival in more »
I realize this is somewhat old news but I’d like to share it anyway. On February 14, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved apalutamide (Erleada) for men with prostate cancer that has not spread (non-metastatic) and is resistant to standard hormone therapy, also called androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). In the clinical trial that led to its approval, more »
Men with nonmetastatic, castration (hormone)-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and a rapidly rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level are at high risk for metastasis. Currently, only one recently approved treatment, Erleada® (apalutamide), is available to these patients. Xtandi®, an androgen receptor inhibitor, is an approved treatment for metastatic CRPC patients. It has been shown to delay disease progression and prolong more »
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently posted a short (3-4 minute) but very illustrative video showing and describing three ways how our immune system fights cancer. These methods include: a) non-specific immune stimulation, as illustrated in bladder cancer; b) T-cell transfer therapy, somewhat similar to how more »
This website has been active for some years now and it is about time for an update of the site in general as well as indiviudual posts. The first change we have made is that all of the hundreds of posts have been separated into one of the following categories: 1) General Patient Information; 2) more »
The following is bad news for men in England with advanced prostate cancer. The rationale behind making this drug unavailable to men was cost. If anyone here in the US recommends we switch to the British system of health care, this should serve as a wakeup call against it. The therapy as described in the more »