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Decision aids and decision-making in prostate cancer risk
Your sitemaster has long believed that, while electronic and other decision aids can be helpful in providing men with information and education about prostate cancer, their value in helping them to...
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And now PSA “screening” does save lives again … maybe
A new article just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine has suggested that PSA testing really does save lives. But the new article isn’t based on any really new data. We are currently trying to...
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The prostate cancer “screening” controversy … an update
Yesterday we mentioned a new paper on PSA screening by Tsodikov et al. in the Annals of Internal Medicine. We have now had the chance to read the full text of that paper, as well as the associated...
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Reports from the EAU “Update on Prostate Cancer” meeting in Vienna
The European Association of Urology (EAU) “Update on Prostate Cancer” meeting was held in Vienna, Austria, on Friday and Saturday, and Dr. Zachary Klaassen was again busy providing summary reports on...
View ArticlePSA velocity no better than latest PSA value in screening men carrying...
Data from the ongoing, prospective IMPACT study has shown that PSA velocity is not predictive of risk for a positive prostate cancer biopsy result in men who are carriers of the BRCA2 gene. As we begin...
View ArticleLow PSA levels on ADT do correlate to longer survival times
For many years now, people have asked whether specific PSA levels after initiation of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT, also known as “hormone therapy”) have significant predictive impact on...
View ArticleThe 400,000+ CAP screening trial reports initial results
A while ago now we had first mentioned the “Cluster randomized trial of PSA testing for prostate cancer” or CAP trial — the single largest randomized trial of PSA screening for risk of prostate cancer...
View ArticleMale obesity and PSA levels: an inverse relationship
Researchers at the University of Adelaide in South Australia have shown that that there is an inverse relationship between PSA levels in the blood and the body mass of the men being tested. According...
View ArticleBut annual, mass, population-based PSA screening really works (or does it?)
A new and potentially controversial article in Urology (the “Gold Journal”) has just suggested that regular, mass, population-based screening of men for risk of prostate cancer every 12 to 18 months...
View ArticlePrediction of risk for aggressive prostate cancer among Black males
A newly published paper has now suggested that data from a single PSA test carried out when the men are between 40 and 64 years of age can be used to project risk for aggressive prostate cancer among...
View ArticleBack to basics: two useful articles to pass along
The Prostate Cancer Foundation posted two useful and basic articles on its blog site this December that may be useful resources for men concerned about their risk for or newly diagnosed with prostate...
View ArticleCan MRI data improve decision-making about the need for a biopsy?
Last week we noted that adding MRI data to the Partin tables and to the Kattan/MSKCC nomograms did not seem to improve the accuracy of prognosis of outcomes after radical prostatectomy. By contrast, a...
View ArticleGood news and less good news for OPKO Diagnostics
So first the “less good” news … Apparently one of the 12 regional Medicare Administration Contractors or MACs (in this case, Novitas Solutions) has determined that Medicare should not reimburse for the...
View ArticleFDA approves new type of PSA testing methodology
According to a report on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) web site, the FDA has just approved the “finger-prick” Sangia Total PSA blood test developed by OPKO Diagnostics. It seems likely that...
View ArticleBPH, 5-ARIs, PSA, and risk for prostate cancer diagnosis
It will come as no surprise to the well-informed that if you are taking a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor (a 5-ARI) like dutasteride or finasteride for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), it significantly...
View ArticleProjecting risk for metastasis after radical prostatectomy
A new paper in Clinical Genitourinary Cancer has provided us with some more detailed information about risk for metastasis in men with recurrent prostate cancer after first-line surgery. We have known...
View ArticleThe pros and cons of “screening” for prostate cancer
A newly published article by Shoag et al. in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has suggested that the risks associated with “screening” for prostate cancer using the PSA test may not be as...
View ArticlePSA doubling time and prognosis for men with nmCRPC
A report this week in Urologic Oncology has confirmed the importance of PSA doubling times in understanding risk for prostate cancer progression among men with non-metastatic, castration-resistant...
View ArticleThe PSA test in “screening” for prostate cancer: yesterday, today, and tomorrow
So our good friend Howard Wolinsky has just written up his assessment on the evolution of the use of the PSA test in “screening” for prostate cancer in an article on the MedPage Today web site. First...
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