Tag: prostatectomy

“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” These words, attributed to Yogi Berra, are a humorous way of saying that we can remember the past and live in the present—but what lies ahead exists in a fog of uncertainty. In medicine, it’s important to manage expectations, since no treatments come with absolute guarantees. keep reading

This headline got my immediate attention: “No Benefit with Surgery for Low-Risk Prostate Cancer.” The article is based on follow up findings from the PIVOT randomized trial. They suggest that radical prostatectomy does not offer men with localized prostate cancer a significant survival benefit over active surveillance or other type of observation. For traditional urologists, this might seem close to heresy... keep reading

Let’s say a real estate investor buys a dilapidated house, intending to tear it down and develop the property with a larger, up-to-date home. Since the house will be demolished, the investor decides to skip going through the rooms for an on-site inspection. If any furnishings were left behind, when the bulldozers come to do keep reading

Times change, but old myths die hard. Especially in medical practice, old beliefs have a way of hanging around. They can still influence decision-making. However, we should be wary of throwing out the baby with the bath. Just because newer treatments have emerged and become established, it doesn’t mean there’s no longer a place for keep reading

As a treatment for prostate cancer, prostatectomy (surgical gland removal) continues to be dogged by positive surgical margins. Patients who have PSMs are at higher risk for recurrence. The issue is not the surgical approach... keep reading

Thanks to PSA screening and early detection, most prostate cancer is diagnosed while it is still contained in the prostate gland. This implies favorable odds that any whole-gland treatment is potentially curative... keep reading

Urologist Bert Vorstman MD continues to be “a keen observer of the state of prostate cancer.” 1 During an interview for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), he made some observations in which he did not mince words... keep reading

When it comes to diagnosing localized prostate cancer (PCa), there’s the old world and the new world. Localized PCa means the disease is still contained in the prostate gland at the time of treatment. This knowledge is a crucial key to wise treatment decisions, especially radical treatments aimed at removing or destroying the entire gland. keep reading

The quote, “Aging is not for sissies,” is attributed to actress Bette Davis but no doubt millions of senior citizens can easily get on board with that sentiment. After age 65, chances of disease and accidents begin to increase, including chronic disease (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, stroke are the most common), falling, depression, anxiety, dementia keep reading

“In the 100 years from the mid-15th to the mid-16th century, a combination of circumstances stimulated men to seek new routes, and it was new routes rather than new lands that filled the minds of kings and commoners, scholars and seamen.”– Encyclopedia Britannica When the 15th century launched the Age of Discovery, it was actually keep reading