Category: Active Surveillance
Uncertainty and Anxiety during Active Surveillance
The word is out: Patients with early stage, low risk prostate cancer have often been rushed into radical prostatectomy when many of them could have afforded to wait to seek treatment—possibly for years. Untold numbers of men were left with urinary and sexual problems that lasted for months, or were never fully resolved. For low keep readingActive Surveillance and Testosterone Replacement Therapy
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd. – Bertrand Russell What man over the age of, say, 45 doesn’t look back—perhaps nostalgically—on the lusty days of yore? Somewhere between the ages of eighteen to thirty, men reach a sexual peak in which desire keep readingMultiparametric MRI Adds Value to Surveillance Monitoring
It’s always reassuring to receive affirmation, especially when offering a leading edge medical program to prostate cancer patients. Such was the case for us at the Sperling Prostate Center with the December, 2015 publication of a UCLA Medical Center study on the value-added of multiparametric MRI during Active Surveillance (AS). The authoritative Journal of Urology keep readingThe Right Way to do Active Surveillance
We know that the use of Active Surveillance (AS) as a way to hold off on prostate cancer (PCa) treatment is on the rise. Concerns about overtreatment, such as doing a prostatectomy on a patient who only has a small Gleason 3+3 tumor, stem from two recognized realities: Insignificant PCa may be slow-growing (indolent) and keep readingToo Fat for Active Surveillance?
I have written on the importance of a healthy lifestyle, especially diet and nutrition, which is correlated with preventing prostate cancer (PCa) and other diseases. (NOTE: You can read some of my related blogs from links at the end of this one.) I came across a new multi-center Italian study that addresses the question: does keep readingStatins and Prostate Cancer: An Update
Last December I posted a blog entry on the possibility that statins, a class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, can reduce the risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer (PCa). If you’re interested, I summarized the relationship between how statins control cholesterol and scientific theories about the connection with PCa; you can read it at https://sperlingprostatecenter.com/statins-prostate-cancer/. I try keep readingWhat Happens When Prostate Biopsies Are Negative?
The annual American Urological Society meeting (AUA 2015, May 15-19) has more presentations than ever on multiparametric MRI detection of prostate cancer, MRI targeted biopsies, MRI/ultrasound fusion, and MRI-guided focal therapies. The urologic world is sitting up and taking notice as advanced imaging is changing the prostate cancer landscape. I will be sharing selected presentations 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 readingWhat Makes A Good Prostate Cancer Screening Test?
At this year’s American Urological Association annual meeting in Orlando, FL, there were numerous courses that offer continuing education credits for physicians. One of the courses was directed by Dr. J. Stephen Jones who, for five years, served as Chair of the Urology Department at the Cleveland Clinic. He is very well respected in the keep reading
