Although its cells are slow-growing, prostate cancer is highly treatable, especially in patients with localized disease. Most treatments for prostate cancer produce positive results. Statistics indicate that the survival rate for patients with early disease is 98%.
At times prostate cancer patients may not need immediate treatment. The doctors will recommend active surveillance in such cases. To many men, a prostate cancer diagnosis requires immediate action. But for some who have early-stage localized disease, treatment can be put off until the cancer grows. Active surveillance allows the doctor to monitor cancer growth and any other changes a patient may undergo. They will continue evaluating the patients to determine when further treatment should be administered. A recent survey observed that only a few of the men put on active surveillance actually complied with the guidelines to the end. Failing to follow protocol can put men at high risk. It allows cancer to advance without being detected and may require invasive treatment immediately. Men who qualify for active surveillance are recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network to receive some tests periodically, including biopsies, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests, and digital rectal exams (DRE). The test can be taken yearly or after every two years. If an anomaly is detected during the tests, urologists will discontinue active surveillance and recommend the patient to undergo treatment. Failing to follow up on active surveillance puts the patient at risk of their disease progressing outside the prostate. Sometimes patients can be underdiagnosed, and their cancer becomes aggressive that previously diagnosed. On the other hand, active monitoring can help patients to avoid treatments like surgery and other therapies with adverse side effects. Men must ensure their diagnosis is accurate. Considering a second opinion may be a good move that will help to determine if active monitoring is appropriate. The key to constant active surveillance is the attentiveness of prostate cancer patients and excellent communication from their physicians. There is a great need to follow the program until the end. Vigilance and proper patient education can help to keep patients active while on a monitoring program.
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It seems there is a way to reduce a man’s chances of developing prostate cancer by eating mushrooms. Studies have shown that eating roughly three to four a day can lower your risk of developing this type of cancer by 17 percent. The long-term effect of consuming this type of fungi has even better effects of reducing the risk of men having prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is among the most prevalent types of cancer in men. This type of cancer usually manifests itself slowly and only affects the prostate gland, where it is considered less dangerous and not cause for alarm to the patient. However, some types develop slowly and at times, require little to no treatment, whereas some others are produced quickly and can spread equally fast. A research study performed on about 36,000 men of ages 40 to 80 saw about 3 percent diagnosed with prostate cancer. Those who included mushrooms in their diet once or twice a week had this risk lowered by 8 percent. If they ate, more, these chances would decrease by 9 percent. This is especially so for men 50, and above, we're consuming a diet mostly of meat and dairy. However, it seems that mushrooms overcome this problem, as men can enjoy their meat and dairy products if only they include mushrooms as well. Although many doctors warn that fungi are not an alternative to meat, other studies have also had the same results and similar findings. Prostate cancer, all in all, is linked to lifestyle choices, especially what you eat, how much you exercise, and your drinking habits. Studies reveal one in nine American men is affected by prostate cancer. This is alarming, and this type of cancer could become the leading cancer among men if their diet does not change soon. Prostate cancer is not positively responsive to immunotherapy. The recent clinical trials conducted have hinted that when immunotherapy and radiation therapy are combined, they can be a powerful treatment approach for castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Androgen deprivation therapy is the current cornerstone of managing advanced hormone-sensitive prostate cancer. However, patients often enter into a castration-resistant stage where the tumor progresses despite undergoing androgen deprivation. Until recently, patients have been treated with chemotherapy.
Considering that today’s prostate cancer profiling has changed, more patients will be willing to embrace the new concepts in prostate cancer treatment. This clearly suggests that developing novel therapeutic agents or regimes that will target the broader spectrum of pathway components will greatly improve the clinical benefits of systematic therapy. Doctors and scientists have better recognition of risk assessment. And there is also a higher acceptance of multimodality treatment among patients, with great anticipation of novel therapeutics as new concepts emerge. With new ways to better risk-stratify patients, it is quite clear that multimodality therapy is the way to go. Prostate cancer remains challenging to identify and treat early. That is why researchers are working to find the association between microbiome and prostate cancer. Microbiome are microorganisms found in the body in areas such as the mouth, skin, prostate, lungs, and hair.
Prostate cancer is most common among men. Efforts have been made to improve interventions, but many patients still relapse when their conditions resist treatment. New research was conducted to help understand whether a community of bacteria found in the prostate can increase inflammation and increase cancer growth when altered. During the study:
PSA screening is the standard test for identifying prostate cancer in patients, but an invasive biopsy can also be used. High PSA levels can be caused by prostate cancer, although other conditions like prostate inflammation can also elevate PSA levels. Researchers are now exploring the possibility of having a noninvasive marker that will work by analyzing the microbial population of the prostatic fluid. From the sample taken, it was suggested that a microbiome could be used to develop a diagnostic tool for prostate cancer. More research is required to help understand how the microbiome affects prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second killer cancer of men after lung cancer. The disease affects the prostate glands. There is a new prostate cancer study which helps guide a patient's treatment through adding an interim scan during therapy: the use of 177Lu PSMA PET imaging for metastatic castration resistance cancer. After two cycles, the study showed improved predictive value on the survival of patients. The statistic about the interim scan;
• According to the National Cancer Institute (NIS), there is a 30.5 percent survival rate of prostate cancer patients five years after metastatic. The therapy indicates improved results since the use of PSMA PET scan determines patients who are eligible for treatment. It has shown high predictive value among lymphoma patients through 177Lu PSMA therapy. • A new retrospective study carried out in Klinikumrechts de isar hospital of patients who underwent Gallium-68- (68Ga) PSMA PET CT scan at baseline to determine the scan's effectiveness. The scan can evaluate the whole body for the tumor. The tumor is indicated by a change in PSMA avid tumor volume. Tumor response after two cycles of RLT showed survival rates. Lesions can also be included in determining disease progression. Advantages of the interim scan • The PSMA scan can identify the level of risk of prostate cancer. It can check whether cancer has spread to other body parts, unlike conventional imaging methods. • It helps doctors to select the most effective treatment option for the cancer patient. It gives physicians an avenue for checking tumor uniqueness and the spread of cancer. • It ensures early detection of cancer. The scan takes three days maximally. You are given intravenous injections to protect you against radioactivity, and then imaging is done twice to determine the risk of a prostate cancer diagnosis. The technology ensures earlier detection and treatment of the disease. Prostate cancer develops slowly, and its symptoms may not show in the early stages. They become apparent when the tumor has already grown and started affecting the surrounding body parts.
Several treatments for prostate cancer are available, but there is no single perfect therapy for every patient. Two professors have come up with a way they believe will treat prostate cancer safely. Known as the Retractor, the device invented by the professors would allow doctors to administer stronger radiation to tumor locations and kill the cancer cells fast without damaging the nearby healthy tissue. Prostate cancer patients often suffer from the rectal dysfunctions brought about by the side effects of radiation therapy. But the new device brings new hope of fixing such problems and leaving the healthy tissue intact. • The retractor will be a significant milestone in the treatment of prostate cancer. It is going to help oncologists move healthy tissue 1.5cm away from the prostate as radiation is being targeted to the prostate. • This device is made of a shape memory alloy known as Nitol, which can be inflated and deflated within seconds after it is inserted. • The prototype is yet to be developed and tested to make it ready for the market. The lab has been funded to develop more innovative technologies that will benefit oncology. • At the moment, tests using cadavers have been carried out, and the device will soon be used on patients. It will be useful for cervical cancer patients as well as other pelvic tumors. Prostate cancer is manageable, and in most cases, curable. A large percentage of men with the disease live for over five years after their diagnosis. Those with low-risk disease that is localized can live with the disease and probably die from an unrelated cause. The advancements in prostate cancer treatment are continuously evolving with more research and development of treatments with the hope that a probable cure or lasting solution will be discovered. New improvements are being embraced to help more patients with prostate cancer A prostate cancer diagnosis can cause anxiety and uncertainty in the patient. Getting more information can help you figure out things. Since most prostate tumors grow slowly, the patient can take time to make informed decisions with the help of their doctors.
Prostate tumors may turn out to be less harmful to require treatment. Doctors may recommend watchful waiting and active surveillance to keep track of the patient's tumor with several tests, regular checkups and biopsies scheduled in place of other treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery. If the tumor starts to grow and makes you uncomfortable, that is when you may decide to begin treatment. While dealing with news about a prostate cancer diagnosis is challenging, there are things a patient can control during their whole prostate cancer journey. These include:
Some studies were carried out and suggested that certain foods can help to lower prostate cancer recurrence or slow the growth of prostate cancer cells. Although there is no strong evidence, good nutrition can help the body get enough strength to fight the disease and its symptoms/side effects. Prostate-specific antigen test is a blood screening method that searches for prostate-specific antigens in the bloodstream. The prostate-specific antigens are proteins produced by the prostate gland. They are found in the bloodstream in small amounts.
Doctors report PSA test results as nanograms of PSA per milliliter of blood. High levels of PSA can be a sign of the presence of prostate cancer. PSA levels vary by age group, and no actual normal PSA level can guarantee that a patient is free from prostate cancer. The risk of one having prostate cancer increase as PSA levels elevate and in many men, the concentration of PSA rises with age. Although experts have created age-adjusted PSA ranges to estimate one's risk of prostate cancer, there's no proven normal PSA level by age. PSA can show patients if they are at risk, but there's no guarantee that if the levels rise above a certain mark, the patient has prostate cancer or if they are lower, one does not have the disease. PSA results below 4 ng/ml are often considered normal. Any level above this will have doctors recommend a biopsy to check for the presence of cancer. The age-specific reference ranges of PSA levels below help to identify the normal PSA levels by age. This helps to reduce unnecessary biopsy recommendations. • 0.7 ng/ml for men in the 40-year age group • 0.9 ng/ml for men in the 50-year age group • 1.2 ng/ml for men in the 60-year age group • 1.5 ng/ml for men in the 70-year age group The published normal PSA levels based on age and ethnicity include: • Between ages 40 to 49 - 0 to 2.0 ng/ml for Asian - African-Americans, and 0 to 2.5 ng/ml for Caucasians • Between ages 50 to 59 - 0 to 3.0 ng/ml for Asian-Americans, 0 to 4.0 ng/ml for African-Americans, and 0 to 3.5 ng/ml for Caucasians • Between ages 60 to 69 - 0 to 4.0 ng/ml for Asian-Americans, and 0 to 4.5 ng/ml for Caucasians and African-Americans • Between ages 70 to 79: 0 to 5.0 ng/ml for Asian-Americans, 0 to 5.5 ng/ml for African-Americans, and 0 to 6.5 ng/ml for Caucasians The adjusted PSA cut-off levels help to recognize significant tumors in all the age groups and reduce the number of biopsies. Prostate cancer has for a long time been diagnosed using the transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) biopsy which takes 12-14 needle samples from the prostate gland. However, ultrasound cannot show the difference between cancerous tissue and healthy tissue. It has proven to be unreliable because of providing uncertain results for diagnosis.
During a study, three things were highlighted regarding prostate cancer diagnosis: • That no other organ cancer has ever been diagnosed by blindly sampling tissue except prostate cancer. • The TRUS biopsy cannot be relied upon to deliver an accurate diagnosis. It may or may not find cancer, and if it does, it is not specific on the size and shape of cancer. • TRUS diagnosis doesn’t show whether the cancer is aggressive or not. There has been evidence of revolutionized diagnosis for prostate cancer through multiparametric MRI. It offers the imaging ability to identify tumors before taking any tissue samples. Here are the benefits of mpMRI: • Using multiparametric MRI gives detailed information about the volume, location, probability, and multiplicity of tumors. It provides an accurate diagnosis that pinpoints the location and activity of cancer. • With MRI, doctors will know the size and extent of the tumor, whether it has multiplied and its aggressiveness. There are no cases of under-diagnosis. It will not miss any aggressive disease either and will inform the patient the real situation of their tumor. • It does not misdiagnose. Multiparametric MRI will differentiate cancerous tumors from less aggressive tumors and direct doctors on the best course of treatment. The mpMRI has paved the way for accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer and given directions to the doctors to develop proper treatment planning according to the patient’s status. The advances in image-guided therapy are beneficial to patients who want their prostate cancer controlled without experiencing severe side effects of treatment. A new study has found that a larger number of American men are choosing to delay surgery for low-risk prostate cancer. Instead, they are choosing to monitor the disease. This comes in the wake of new guidelines encouraging “active surveillance” as a better option for men diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer. The study found that in a span of only five years the number opting for monitoring increased to thrice what it was from 14 percent to 42 percent between 2010 and 2015.
Active surveillance comprises of intermittent biopsies, blood tests, andexams to check whether the cancer is progressing. If necessary, treatment might be recommended eventually but there are chances of it not being necessary. Prostate cancer is common, with a one-in-nine chance of diagnosis for men in the U.S. It, however, progresses slowly and may never grow too far. In the past, many had the disease and lived with it unknowingly, eventually dying of other causes. This shows it is possible to use active surveillance. Facts about active surveillance include:
Even with these statistics, some men will still prefer surgery to get the cancer out. This remains a valid choice for the patient as long as they don’t feel rushed into treatment. |
AuthorAs the founder and medical director of the Prostate Seed Institute Dr. Gregory A. Echt. His vision to provide the most modern treatment, non surgical treatments for prostate cancer in various locations throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth continues to succeed. Now date, he has made a therapy for prostate implantation seed at over 2,500 men, including urologists and oncologists. Archives
December 2019
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