In the urologic world, there is a longstanding bias that surgical removal of the prostate gland, or radical prostatectomy (RP), is the preferred treatment for prostate cancer (PCa). It is based in the outdated belief that all PCa is a) multifocal, and b) likely to spread beyond the gland if untreated. Thus, it seemed logical keep reading
“Change is inevitable. Progress is optional.” Tony Robbins In medicine, change sometimes happens with two steps forward but one step back. For example, in the early 20th century, delivering babies in hospitals became more popular than home births in order to have “painless” births with anesthesia. However, for many women the higher complication and infection keep reading
Two problems face men who have a high PSA or abnormal digital rectal exam (DRE). First, they are often referred for a conventional TRUS needle biopsy of the prostate because there is suspicion of prostate cancer (PCa). Second, multiparametric MRI is considered too time-consuming and expensive for routine determination of the need for a biopsy. keep reading
The earth completes a full rotation on its axis every 24 hours. For the majority of creatures – including humans – who do not live near either the north or south pole, about half of the time it’s day, and the other half is night. With relatively few fluctuations, this daily division of daylight and keep reading
The Sperling Prostate Center joins a prestigious group of academic and community medical centers participating in a Phase Three clinical trial of a new prostate cancer focal treatment. Dr. Sperling is the Principal Investigator at our Boca Raton, FL study site. The treatment under investigation is MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS), a noninvasive technology for the keep reading
With Active Surveillance on the rise, one would think that doctors who support AS for their prostate cancer patients have similar commitment and protocols. A new study (Sep. 2016) in the British Journal of Urology International (BJUI) spells out 8 areas of qualitative differences among AS doctors: physician comfort with active surveillance protocol selection beliefs keep reading
Terrific news and a great way to start off 2017! On January 17, the prestigious medical journal The Lancet issued online publication of a British study, “Diagnostic accuracy of multi-parametric MRI and TRUS biopsy in prostate cancer (PROMIS): a paired validating confirmatory study” (Ahmed et al., 2017[i]). This large trial validated the importance of multiparametric keep reading
Did you ever hear the folktale about Chicken Little, who was hit on the head by a falling acorn? He wanted to warn the king – and everyone else – that “the sky is falling!” The story and its many age-old variants satirizes people who are unduly alarmed and spread exaggerated rumors. However, three recent keep reading
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT, also called hormone therapy) is a strategy of biochemically controlling prostate cancer (PCa) by depriving it of testosterone. It is used in cases where Radiation or ablation is planned and the doctor needs to “shrink” the prostate gland to increase the effectiveness of the treatment PCa had already escaped the gland keep reading
Men suspected of having prostate cancer based on rising PSA or abnormal DRE are typically sent for a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided biopsy using 12 or more needles. At least 30% of TRUS biopsies miss the disease that is present, not to mention the possible side effects of the biopsy itself. What happens next? The keep reading