Black men take note: researchers have uncovered a possible reason why black men of West African ancestry are more likely than white men to get a prostate cancer diagnosis and to die of the disease. Autopsies of the prostate glands of more than 1,000 black and white American men suggest that the rate of prostate…
How to lower PSA is something you might ask yourself if you receive the news that you have a high PSA test result. You may be concerned if your PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level is higher than average or has gone up since it was last tested. A high PSA has several causes: prostate cancer prostatitis…
In addition to conventional medical therapies, men and their doctors also can choose from a wide variety of complementary and alternative treatments for prostate cancer. Often these alternatives can be used to complement traditional approaches. However, you should consult a knowledgeable healthcare provider before starting any new treatments. Here are six alternative treatments for prostate…
It’s common knowledge that calcium is necessary for the development and maintenance of healthy bone and teeth, but there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing, and that applies to calcium. In fact, when it comes to calcium and calcium supplements, as well as dairy foods, men should be especially careful of…
Sunlight is free, and if we learn to harness it correctly, it can address one of humankind’s greatest needs: energy. Similarly, sunlight helps the body make vitamin D, and if you are exposed to sufficient and safe amounts, this nutrient/hormone can help fight our top health problems: heart disease and diabetes. Unfortunately, many people do…
Prostate cancer treatment does not need to be scary, but it can be confusing. It is important to learn everything you can about what prostate cancer is, the risk factors, and treatment options so that you can be an active participant in your treatment decision making. This is essential because treatment in early stages of…
Prostate cancer survival does not improve when men use finasteride (Proscar), according to a new study. However, finasteride is still associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer. What is finasteride? Finasteride is one of the commonly prescribed drugs for BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia, or an enlarged prostate). Proscar is a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor, which means…
There are eight different forms of vitamin E, and to help prevent prostate cancer—and other cancers as well—make sure you choose the correct ones: gamma-tocopherol and delta tocopherol. That’s the message from a research team at the Center for Cancer Prevention Research, at Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, and the Cancer Institute of New…
Provenge is a recently approved therapy for advanced prostate cancer that is tailored to your specific cancer. Brief overview of the Provenge procedure The Provenge procedure involves the harvesting of your immune cells, a special treatment of those cells, and then a reinfusion of the specially treated cells. Your immune cells are collected through a…
It’s like a medical delivery version of special delivery from the post office: the use of nanobubbles to deliver chemotherapy or genetic materials directly to individually selected cancer cells. The use of nanobubbles could allow clinicians to treat only cancer cells while leaving nearby healthy cells untouched. You may have heard of nanoparticles, which are…
Active surveillance, a strategy for delaying prostate cancer treatment, is now chosen by 40-50% of newly diagnosed low-risk patients. Yet nearly a third may not be appropriate due to serious flaws with most methods for qualifying and monitoring AS candidates. Good news: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can now make AS safer than ever. In fact,…
Zytiga life expectancy is something that men considering treatment for prostate cancer will want to understand to help them make an informed decision about treatment. According to the American Cancer Society, a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer in his lifetime is 1 in 6. On the other hand survival is generally good with 1 in 36 men…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in a wide variety of fields and circumstances today, ranging from financial analysis, educational tutoring, aviation stimulators, and robotics. Medical research is another hot area, and recently one of the many questions investigators have asked is, can artificial intelligence help predict prostate cancer progression after surgery? Even though prostate…
Scientists have been looking at the increased cancer risk in Parkinson’s disease patients for years, particularly skin cancers and melanoma. Now, University of Utah School of Medicine researchers have found evidence to suggest a link between Parkinson’s disease and prostate cancer risk and that the risk extends to both close and distant relatives with Parkinson’s….
A new prostate cancer gene test can reduce the number of men who need prostate cancer surgery. Genomic Health announced the availability of the Oncotype DX prostate cancer test. The test can strongly predict disease aggressiveness, helping patients and physicians make more informed decisions about how to proceed with prostate cancer treatment. Oncotype DX is…
I have posted numerous blogs on the risk of aggressive prostate cancer (PCa) for men who are overweight. Once again, research bears this out. A new Canadian study involved 51 patients scheduled for a prostate biopsy who were first evaluated for factors related to body composition and metabolism. Once the biopsy results were in, the…
A new prostate cancer treatment may be on its way. An anticancer compound discovered by researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute could lead to a new prostate cancer treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer. The new compound, called SMIP004, holds promise because it appears to kill prostate cancer cells while sparing normal cells. “For…
Prostate cancer ranks among the most frequent types of cancer in males. Physicians have tried to minimize the risk by including prostate examination in most men’s annual medical examination, but that’s not enough. Unfortunately, the majority of men don’t not know that they should be watchful and check for certain indications that betray prostate cancer…
According to a recent survey, there is little difference in the results of the expensive robotic surgery for prostate cancer (da Vinci) surgical procedure over low-tech traditional prostate surgery. The new survey that found complaints about erectile dysfunction and incontinence in men were equally common after the two procedures. “I wasn’t surprised at all,” said…
If you like oregano in your pasta sauce and on your pizza, you may want to start using this popular seasoning herb even more. A new study by investigators at Long Island University (LIU) suggests oregano contains an ingredient that could also be a potential treatment for prostate cancer. Oregano has been valued for medicinal…
