Prostate Cancer

A study investigating associations between statin use and prostate cancer outcomes provides further evidence that the medication may have race-related benefit, providing protective effects among Caucasian men but not in African-Americans.

Studies show moderate alcohol intake has surprising links to prostate disease.

"While these results cannot be extrapolated to men with very high PSA level or advanced clinical stage, the study provides appropriate benchmark data for our contemporary patients with high-risk clinically localized prostate cancer," writes Badar M. Mian, MD.

Men with AR-V7-positive prostate cancer seem to respond positively to a combination therapy with ipilimumab (Yervoy) and nivolumab (Opdivo).

Researchers studied data from a racially diverse cohort of 650 men undergoing a prostate biopsy between January 2007 and January 2018.

Other pipeline products discussed in this round-up include agents for metastatic urothelial cancer, clear cell renal cell carcinoma, and stress urinary incontinence.

Radical prostatectomy can provide superior survival compared with radiation therapy, especially in young and healthy men.

Personally tailored intervention generates patient interest, QoL improvements.

Benefit evident regardless of metastasis site, phase III analysis shows.

~40% of sipuleucel-T recipients in lowest PSA quartile alive after 5 years.

It appears to be safe for clinicians to consider testosterone therapy for symptomatic men with testosterone deficiency and a history of prostate cancer, according to new data presented at the AUA annual meeting in San Francisco.

Although active surveillance for prostate cancer is on the rise in younger, privately insured men, many patients do not undergo a repeat biopsy.

The combination appears to be a more powerful predictor than mpMRI/PSA density.

Other take-home messages on transplantation from AUA 2018 included the finding that kidney paired donations have more than doubled since their inception in 2009 as well as early robotic kidney transplantation studies.

"Despite the potential benefits (fewer biopsies, less cost), the proposed approach to cancer detection and biopsy-that can miss 16%-40% of existing csPCa-may be difficult to justify for all patients," writes Badar M. Mian, MD.

Other key prostate cancer studies from AUA 2018 included updated survival data from the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer and a multicenter trial of MRI-targeted biopsy.

Apalutamide (Erleada) treatment in men with nonmetastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer significantly improves metastasis-free survival and does so without adversely affecting health-related quality of life.

“A multivariable analysis confirmed that AR-V7 status independently predicted PSA response,” says researcher Matthias Heck, MD.

"Although we commend the USPSTF for upgrading the recommendation for PSA- and digital rectal exam-based prostate cancer screening from a “D” to a “C” grade (JAMA 2018; 319:1901–13), we believe that not enough emphasis is placed on screening high-risk groups for prostate cancer," write Navin Shah, MD, and Vladimir Ioffe, MD.

Findings from a retrospective analysis of data collected at the National Institutes of Health provide insight on how multiparametric MRI/transrectal ultrasound-fusion biopsy (“fusion biopsy”) may be affecting management patterns and outcomes for men with prostate cancer.

Adding abiraterone acetate (ZYTIGA) to androgen deprivation therapy for the management of patients with metastatic castration-naïve prostate cancer does not increase medical resource utilization.

The treatment method may delay need for systemic therapy in men with oligometastatic prostate cancer.

Study findings bolster the idea that frequent repeat biopsies are unnecessary.

Learn about this and other products in the pipeline for prostate cancer and bladder cancer.