A new urine test for prostate cancer that measures minute fragments of ribonucleic acid (RNA) is now commercially available nationwide through the University of Michigan MLabs. The new test [Mi-Prostate Score (MiPS)], improves the utility of the PSA blood test, increases physicians’ ability to differentiate high-risk prostate tumors from low-risk tumors in patients, and may help more »
First and foremost, as we are nearing the end of 2013, I wish to thank the nearly 200,000 readers of this website. Writing it is a joy for me personally, and it was especially gratifying to receive comments from prostate cancer patients who had been successfully treated at my “alma mater”, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland. Hopkins more »
An August 11th, 2013 blog (below) on this website described how a chemotherapeutic drug such as docetaxel (taxotere) used in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer could be administered more effectively and with less side effects. Taxotere is a variant of an anti-cancer drug (taxol) originally isolated from yew plants. Nanoparticles are chemical species which more »
During my personal and scientific career, I have been blessed to meet and interact with some extremely interesting and gifted people. One such person, Dr. Raymond Damadian, is the inventor of magnetic resonance (MR) scanning. He and I formerly attended the same church in Long Island, New York. One of Dr. Damadian’s chief scientific passions continues to be the use of MR more »
Most (90%) of all prostate cancers are initially diagnosed as treatable adenocarcinoma. However, every adenocarcinoma type of cancer contains a sub-type of cells (often 1% or less) called neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) cells. While adenocarcinoma cells often metastasize to bone, NEPC can metastasize to liver or other abdominal organs. Cancer cells have the ability to evolve more »
Surgery (radical prostatectomy) is one option for treating prostate cancer. Personally, since I was in my mid-50’s when prostate cancer was detected, I opted for this route. The two major risks posed by surgery and other treatments are incontinence and impotence. The area surrounding the prostate gland is densely composed of small blood vessels and nerves which control more »
Considerable academic and commercial research efforts are underway in order to identify and utilize genetic biomarkers to aid in the diagnosis and characterization of prostate cancers, to determine their aggressiveness, to ascertain the need for biopsies, and to monitor therapeutic regimens. These have been reviewed in this website’s blog posts dated March 26th, 2012 and more more »
Research results recently published online in the August 9th issue of The Prostate (Prostate 2013, DOI:10.1002/pros.22714) suggest that measuring the biological enzymatic activity (or lack thereof) of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) could be used as a predictor of prostate cancer (PCa) aggressiveness. As we know, the level of PSA in serum is often used to determine the necessity more »
The Department of Urology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland has consistently been rated best (#1) in the annual survey published in U.S. News and World Report. Hopkins urologists provide an excellent source of prostate information via a number of publications. Recent examples are as follows. The July 28th-Aug. 3rd issue of the Johns Hopkins Health Alerts more »
In Matthew 14:14, Jesus saw a great multitude of people, had compassion on them and healed their sick. The Great Physician is able to heal. He created us and knows every mechanism in our body down to the most minute detail. Sometimes He promises to immediately take away our problem when we ask, and in other more »
I come across numerous smaller articles of interest related to prostate cancer. Rather than summarizing them in separate blog posts, I’d like to send this short list of four. Hopefully, one or more will be of interest to you. 1) On June 5th, 2013, the Johns Hopkins Health Alerts published a short article entitled “What We Can Learn more »
I was watching my usual TV news channels when a story was presented citing a recent study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Reseach Center in Seattle and published on-line in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study results seemed to conclude that taking fish oil supplements or eating too much fatty fish, thereby producing higher serum levels more »
New research has identified several ‘biomarkers’ or genetic fingerprints that report the underlying biology of a tumor. Combinations of these biomarkers can aid clinical management of prostate cancer by: 1) allowing accurate diagnoses; 2) establishing whether a patient’s cancer is aggressive or indolent; 3) deciding if repeat biopsies are needed; 4) aiding clinical decisions more »
I would like to share a small example which I believe illustrates God’s timetable and daily provision for circumstances in our lives. While this narrative might seem relatively insignificant, the principle it demonstrates is a major one. Just as we rely on God’s help and provision for serious issues such as prostate cancer, He also makes His presence more »
In an attempt to identify younger men who are at risk for prostate cancer, researchers at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD studied 94 men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer when they were 55 years old or younger or who had close blood relatives with prostate cancer. Past research led the investigators to suspect that more »
Genomic Health Inc., a cancer diagnostics company, recently announced they are now marketing a genomic test for men diagnosed with prostate cancer that will provide better information on how likely it is that their prostate cancer is an aggressive form of the disease needing immediate treatment, or a slow-growing, low-risk form of prostate cancer that more »
On May 15th, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Xofigo (previously known as Alpharadin) for use in men with treatment-resistant prostate cancer that had metastasized to bones but not to other organs. Xofigo, administered by injection, will be marketed by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals who developed the therapy jointly with Algeta, ASA, a Norwegian pharmaceutical company. The more »
I recently learned of a good friend who has asymptomatic but metastatic prostate cancer which was being controlled by intermittent androgen deprivation (hormonal) therapy. One of the potential side effects of such therapy is the risk of osteopenia and the more serious condition, osteoporosis. Osteoporosis and the processes involved in breaking down bone (resorption) by cells called osteoclasts and generating new more »
This communication is long overdue. Recently, this website has surpassed 115,000 hits. Two years ago, I would have never imagined I would write this blog post, but I write it with an overwhelming sense of gratitude to God, to my physicians, to my supportive and loving wife and to those of you who have visited this site. How did I get to more »
For a newly-diagnosed prostate cancer patient, the three most important initial parameters are the blood levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and its rate of increase, the biopsy-based Gleason score that ranks a tumor’s aggressiveness, and the clinical stage of the tumor based on its physical appearance. In the early 1990’s, Dr. Alan Partin, currently director of Urology at more »