Tag: prostate cancer

I’ve been noticing some confusion among patients over the traditional Gleason score system and the new Gleason Grade Group system. I figured it’s time for a quick review and refresher course. You’ll be relieved to know there are no quizzes, midterms or final exams! However, it’s all about grades—but not the kind you get in 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

“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden.” – Healthyplace.com A 2020 paper opens with the statement: “Men diagnosed with prostate cancer have a heightened risk for major depressive disorder, with rates exceeding those keep reading

Is there any human being who would greet a cancer diagnosis with good cheer? I suspect not, because it’s not good news. It automatically triggers the most basic of all fears: am I going to die? Even the most optimistic or logical person can’t keep that question from popping up, at least momentarily. If the keep reading

If you were suddenly kidnapped and blindfolded, then abandoned in a foreign land, you would want the best possible map to get safely to the border where you could figure out a homeward-bound plan. For men who are diagnosed with high-risk prostate cancer (PCa), it’s as if a hostile unknown enemy has abducted them, deprived keep reading

A diabetic man aged 76 with no history of prostate cancer (PCa) comes to his primary care physician (PCP) for his annual wellness visit. (Sidebar: in the good old days they were called physicals, but in today’s Medicare world, they’re annual wellness visits—and yes, there is a difference but that’s for another day.) He fasted 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

If you’re at least 45 years old and never been diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa), do you ever ask yourself, “Could I get prostate cancer?” If you have any of the familiar risk factors like family history of breast or prostate cancer, African American, or environmental exposure then you already know you should take steps keep reading

Suppose you suddenly became really curious about global prostate cancer statistics. You might start asking questions like: Where in the world is the highest incidence of prostate cancer (PCa)? What countries have the highest survival rates? Which modifiable lifestyle factors increase the chances of getting PCa? And so on… Your next logical question might be, keep reading

The often-quoted “Hope springs eternal in the human breast” was penned by the 18th century poet Alexander Pope. It certainly to developing new approaches to conquering prostate cancer (PCa). The greatest challenge to optimism may be the situation of men with metastatic castration-resistant PCa who hope for a breakthrough lifesaving cure while experimental immunotherapies and keep reading