Category: Prostate Cancer

Few things are more unsettling and stressful than a diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). It causes a state of anxiety. Each step of the journey sparks another wave of anxiety: suspicion, tests, diagnosis, choices, decisions, treatment, recovery, follow-up monitoring, and potential recurrence. These stressors trigger an immediate reaction: the fight-flight-freeze response. Most men can’t just flip a switch to let it go, but... keep reading

We’ve all heard the saying that no news is good news. It’s meant to be reassuring in the face of worry over an unknown outcome. The news must not be bad, because you would have heard if it were. When it comes to using multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) for Active Surveillance (AS) monitoring, a negative scan keep reading

We hear so much about the most common prostate cancer (PCa) risk factors that it’s hard to believe anything was left off the list. The top risk factors are aging (roughly 60% of PCa cases are diagnosed over age 65), family history of PCa (having a close family relative who had PCa doubles the risk), keep reading

“…any energy source can be applied to the super-active surveillance concept allowing more men to consider a tissue-preserving therapy for prostate cancer.” – Corradi et al. 2019[i] Thanks to a growing recognition among professionals that clinically insignificant PCa may never become life-threatening, a larger percentage of low-risk PCa patients are starting their treatment journey with keep reading

What do these three things have in common: Benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH (non-cancerous prostate enlargement),male pattern baldness and aggressive prostate cancer that is potentially lethal? The first—and most obvious—answer is that they are all risks that men face with aging. The second less obvious answer is... keep reading

When you were growing up, your mom or dad no doubt cautioned you against poking anything into an electrical outlet. You didn’t need to understand the concept of conductance; you simply had to grasp that a painful thing called a shock would be the result. Depending on how dramatic the message was, you might have keep reading

Multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) is a simple, elegant way for men suspected of prostate cancer (PCa) to avoid an unnecessary biopsy. It’s especially beneficial in making treatment decisions that match the patient’s disease and its extent. And, for patients who are facing radical prostatectomy (RP), mpMRI can improve surgical outcomes by ruling out positive surgical margins. keep reading

A PSMA PET/CT scan (or simply PSMA PET) like the one described below that incorporates the radioisotope Gallium-68, is the most sensitive method to detect metastatic prostate cancer (mPCa). PSMA PET has thus quickly gained wide use, including evaluating how well a patient’s mPCa is responding to therapy... keep reading

An exciting new imaging modality called PSMA PET/CT has entered the global prostate cancer diagnosis scene. When a short-lived positron emitting isotope called Gallium 68 is bonded to a molecule that is attractive to a specific protein found abundantly on the surface of prostate cancer (PCa) cells, the cells “light up” on PET/CT scans. keep reading

Can you imagine having a PSA higher than 100–four prostate biopsies don’t find cancer? This is the true story of a 73-year old man who came to Duke University Medical Center early in 2021. When he was examined, his prostate gland was... keep reading