QUEST informs readers of the latest advances in urologic prostate cancer research, especially detection, prevention, and treatment.
The ACS estimates that almost 1.7 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in 2017 in the U.S. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, accounting for 19%, followed by lung (14%) and colorectal cancers (9%). Among…
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), also called hormonal therapy, may be used in men who have prostate cancer that has spread too far to be cured by surgery or radiation, or if their cancer comes back after treatment with surgery or…
A large analysis of brothers in the Prostate Cancer data Base Sweden (PCBaSe) showed that men with a family history of prostate cancer were more likely to get clinically significant prostate cancer. The study included 51,897 brothers of 32,807 men…
Arising PSA following a prostatectomy is called biochemical recurrence, and can be a warning sign of recurrent cancer. More than 30% of men have biochemical recurrence after their prostates are removed. Often, patients with biochemical recurrence receive salvage radiation therapy…
Researchers at Harvard University and Brigham & Women’s Hospital tracked PSA levels in 157 men treated with radiation and/or hormonal therapy for localized prostate cancer. The study followed the men for more than 16 years on average. The main predictor…
New guidelines from the International Society of Geriatric Oncology said that prostate cancer patients older than 70 years should be treated based on their individual health status, not on their age. The task force also said that elderly patients who…
Typically, men with elevated PSAs have transrectal ultrasound-guided (TRUS) prostate biopsies to look for prostate cancer. However, TRUS biopsies can have errors in diagnosis because tissue samples are taken at random, and they cannot confirm whether a cancer is aggressive…
A case-control study found that a midlife PSA above the median strongly predicted future lethal prostate cancer. The authors suggested that risk-stratified screening on the basis of midlife PSA should be considered for men ages 45 to 59 years. The…
Astudy published in BJU International examined the use of the Prostate Health Index (phi) test as a tool in assessing risk for aggressive prostate cancer, defined as a Gleason score of 7 or greater upon biopsy. The men in the…
Depression, Self-Harm and Suicide A Canadian study found that 5- alpha-reductase inhibitors were not tied to an increased risk of suicide.1 However, men who took finasteride or dutasteride had an 88% higher risk of harming themselves and a 94% higher…
