Experts Weigh In On MRI and Active Surveillance
An international team of experts on imaging prostate cancer participated in a review of the literature on prostate MRI and active surveillance.[i] To give you an idea of how impressive the team was, here is a list of the institutions they represent: Erasmus University Medical Center (Depts. of Urology and Radiology), Rotterday, the Netherlands University keep readingScan Abuse and How to Avoid It
Sadly, prostate cancer (PCa) patients with low-risk disease are still being sent for needless diagnostic bone and CT scans. This was the finding of an impressive multi-disciplinary research team from several institutions (U.S. Veterans Administration and various medical and public policy departments within New York University and Yale University). The investigators found that nearly keep readingPut an End to Overtreatment
“There is increased use of radiotherapy among patients with indolent prostate cancer with limited to no correlation with tumor biology.” This conclusion was reached by a research team out of UCLA after studying the treatment choices of 37,621 patients.[i] In fact, over half (57.9%) of the men were sent for radiation, while 19.1% had a keep readingThe Impact of the Recommendation Against PSA Screening
In 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued a recommendation against routine PSA screening for otherwise healthy men. Almost immediately, prostate cancer support organizations and hundreds of clinical professionals raised an outcry. While acknowledging that the non-prostate cancer specific blood test often led to over-detection and over-treatment of indolent prostate cancer, countless lives keep readingLet’s Speak the Same MRI Diagnostic Language
A man who is suspected of having prostate cancer, or whose cancer has been biopsy confirmed, can develop the best right treatment plan if he also has a multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) of the prostate. When his own doctor sends him to an imaging center, his scan is “read” by the center’s radiologist who writes a keep readingMRI Before TRUS Re-Biopsy Increases Accuracy
It seems intuitive, if not obvious, that superior imaging of the prostate gives precise information to guide a biopsy needle into a cancerous tumor. The typical ultrasound imaging used by urologists in their offices is inferior to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Ultrasound-guided transrectal (TRUS) biopsy has a minimum 35% chance of missing cancer. If our keep readingWould You Change Your Diet to Prevent PCa?
Do you know what causes cancer? Do you believe that diet can affect your chances of either causing or preventing prostate cancer? Would you change what you eat if you thought it could make a positive difference? I ran across an interesting small study that grew out of a larger British program called the ProDiet keep reading
How Do You Feel About Screening?
If you’re like most men age 40+, you probably get your PSA (prostate specific antigen) test when you go for a physical that includes a blood draw. You learned either from your doctor, or a health promotion, that men should get a baseline PSA at age 45 (40 if you have known risk factors) and keep reading
TRUS Biopsy: Still Trying to Solve the Riddle
Matt Mullenweg, the originator of the popular open source WordPress software, has been quoted as saying, “Whenever there’s a new form of media, we always think it’s going to replace the old thing, and it never does. We still have radio, however long after TV was introduced.” It can be just as true in medicine. keep reading
