Tag: multiparametric MRI

One of the most respected prostate cancer research facilities is the National Cancer Institute: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is the federal government’s principal agency for cancer research and training. Established under the National Cancer Institute Act of 1937, NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of 11 agencies that make keep reading

Gone are the days of “exploratory surgery.” Today’s magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a widely used scanning method that provides accurate 3D pictures of physical anatomy and bodily processes. It is noninvasive, and there is no exposure to radiation as with CT/PET scans. MRI detects changes in atoms under high frequency radio waves within a keep reading

Fusion guided prostate biopsies are the new darling of urologic diagnostic procedures. For decades, the transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided 12-plus needle sampling of the gland was the prostate cancer (PCa) diagnostic gold standard, despite its widely recognized shortcoming: Inaccuracy rates of at least 30% on average Overdetecting insignificant PCa while often missing significant PCa Tends keep reading

No one can dispute the superiority of multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) over transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) for detecting and characterizing prostate cancer (PCa) before biopsy and treatment. The past five years alone have seen a rapid accumulation of research evidence that mpMRI makes it possible to save medical dollars by avoiding unnecessary biopsies and their risks. While keep reading

Do you get an annual physical or wellness check? Is a PSA blood test part of it? If it isn’t, it might be because your doctor took to heart the 2012 bulletin from the US Preventive Services Task Force panel regarding PSA screening. That year, the USPSTF downgraded PSA screening to a D (not recommended keep reading

Not long ago, I posted a blog on the ability of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to boost the effectiveness of radiation therapy for prostate cancer. This synergistic effect is very important for men with intermediate or higher risk cancer who can’t have (or don’t want) radical prostatectomy, since the greater the risk, the more likely keep reading

Every man over a certain age knows about “the little blue pill” or the major brands Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. These medications are part of a class of drugs called PDE5 inhibitors, which are the first effective oral products to treat erectile dysfunction (ED). ED is a problem that commonly occurs as men get older. keep reading