Tag: active surveillance

When the COVID pandemic began shutting us down in March 2020, life became surreal. The lockdown imposed dramatic changes in work/social life, and curtailed movement outside the home. Likewise, delivery of medical care suffered. Hospital staff were overwhelmed by the early waves of very ill and highly infectious patients, while well people who avoided routine keep reading

Who is the world’s leading prostate cancer expert? How does one even begin to answer that question? There are so many great minds dealing with prostate cancer from so many angles: biology, urology, radiology, oncology, pathology and more—it’s impossible to identify a single authority on the subject. However, when great minds work together, powerful consensus keep reading

In recent years, there’s been a huge groundswell of Active Surveillance (AS) for low-risk prostate cancer (PCa) patients. In fact, it’s considered the preferred PCa management strategy for men with lower-risk disease. There are two primary factors at play: 1) patient resistance to undergoing definitive whole gland treatments that can impair urinary and sexual function, keep reading

“Despite increasing adoption of active surveillance (AS) for low-risk prostate cancer, AS discontinuation rates are high, investigators report.” This quote, from a September 2021 Renal & Urology News report, referred to a study of over 16,000 Canadian prostate cancer (PCa) patients who had been diagnosed with low risk disease from 2008-2014. 51% of these patients keep reading

Diagnosis of prostate cancer brings forth a mixed variety of feelings — from anger to disbelief to depression. To learn more about the condition and to be able to make an informed decision concerning diagnostic exams and treatments, it pays to ask questions.... keep reading

Fourteen months prior to the time of this writing, the world began locking down due to the emerging SARS-CoV-2 viral pandemic and the potentially deadly COVID illness it causes. We were all confused, and studies repeatedly show that normal screening for cancers such as breast, prostate and colorectal dropped significantly... keep reading

Imagine this scenario. Your doctor orders a pelvic CT scan to check if the pain you’re experiencing is due to a kidney stone or other blockage. After the scan, he says, “I’m happy to tell you there’s no evidence of stones and your kidney looks fine. Oh, and incidentally, you have prostate cancer.” Of course, keep reading

The growing use of terms like “indolent PCa” and “insignificant PCa” signal recognition that a) not every low-risk PCa tumor needs to be treated immediately, and b) some PCa tumors may never need to be treated at all! keep reading

If a college student plans to go on for a higher degree after graduation, grade point average (GPA) can make a difference in being accepted into grad programs. A perfect 4.0 GPA is desirable. A+, A and A- all have the same 4-point equivalence, so what’s the point of adding a plus or minus sign? keep reading

Good news! The widespread integration of multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) and MRI-guided targeted biopsies has resulted in both better initial qualification of AS candidates, and significantly better ability to monitor for significant PCa by PSA + mpMRI. As a side benefit... keep reading