Prostate Articles

What is Prostate Cancer?

• What is prostate cancer? - Canadian Cancer Society
• See an animation showing where and how prostate cancer grows... - as provided by Dr. Rajaratnam.
• Stephen Hume's Personal Prostate Cancer Story - A "must read"... (Vancouver Sun, Dec. 1, 2009)
• Cycle for Life - John Wagontall's blog - John is a prostate cancer survivor, consistently keeping track of his PSA levels.

Diagnostics Information

• Prostate Cancer Screening - Attempts to identify individuals with prostate cancer in a broad segment of the population — those for whom there is no reason to suspect prostate cancer. There are currently two methods used: One is the digital rectal examination (DRE), in which the examiner inserts a gloved, lubricated finger into the rectum to examine the adjoining prostate. The other is the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, which measures the concentration of this molecule in the blood.
• PSA test - Find out what it is and how it works...

Stories in the Media

• [BBC] Green tea 'slows prostate cancer' - A chemical found in green tea appears to slow the progression of prostate cancer, a study has suggested... The research, in the US journal Cancer Prevention Research, found a significant fall in certain markers which indicate cancer development. A UK charity said the tea might help men manage low-risk tumours.
• Actor Dennis Hopper dead at 74 - LOS ANGELES, May 29 (Reuters) - Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper, best known for directing and starring in the 1969 cult classic "Easy Rider," died on Saturday from complications of prostate cancer, a friend of the actor said.

Risk Factors

• [Science Daily] Gene Mutations Increase Risk For Aggressive Prostate Cancer - Men who develop prostate cancer face an increased risk of having an aggressive tumor if they carry a so-called breast cancer gene mutation, scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University report in the January 29 issue of Clinical Cancer Research. The findings could help to guide prostate-cancer patients and their physicians in choosing treatment options.
• [BBC] Poor 'get less prostate surgery' - Men living in deprived areas are less likely to receive radiotherapy or surgery for prostate cancer than their richer counterparts, a study suggests. Writing in the British Medical Journal, researchers who studied 35,000 men described "substantial" differences between what rich and poor received.

Advances in Treatment

• [BBC] Prostate cancer vaccine wins US approval - The drug is not a "cure" but is used in advanced prostate cancer that has spread to other sites in the body and is no longer responding to standard hormone treatment. Clinical trials showed that the treatment extended the lives of patients by four months.
• Stanford CyberKnife - Stereotactic radiotherapy combines computerized imaging with radiation therapy to precisely deliver radiation in the three-dimensionally pattern of a tumor. This method reduces the radiation received by healthy tissues, and can sometimes allow doctors to deliver radiation to body regions that would have been difficult or impossible to treat in the past.
• CyberKnife in the UK - A major expansion of capabilities in London means that patients no longer have to travel (e.g., to the USA) to get state-of-the-art treatment.

Other Cancers / Research

• [BBC] Hopes for breast cancer vaccine - American scientists say they have developed a vaccine which has prevented breast cancer from developing in mice. The researchers - whose findings are published in the journal, Nature Medicine - are now planning to conduct trials of the drug in humans. But they warn that it could be some years before the vaccine is widely available. The immunologist who led the research says the vaccine targets a protein found in most breast tumours. Vincent Tuohy, from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, said: "We believe that this vaccine will someday be used to prevent breast cancer in adult women in the same way that vaccines have prevented many childhood diseases.
• [BBC] One-shot radiotherapy 'success against breast cancer' - A single dose of radiation during surgery is just as effective as a prolonged course of radiotherapy for breast cancer, a study suggests. Doctors have tested the technique, which involves a single shot of radiotherapy to a tumour site, in more than 2,000 patients.

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