Prostate Cancer

In this article, urologists Scott E. Eggener, MD, and Stacy Loeb, MD, MSc, discuss the current applications for prostate cancer biomarkers and MRI, their impact on clinical practice, and future developments.

This article discusses the current status and potential future developments in immunotherapy for genitourinary malignancies with insights from urologic oncology specialists Hyung L. Kim, MD, and Daniel P. Petrylak, MD.

This article highlights the key points of two urologic cancer guidelines (which provide evidence-based guidance) and two consensus statements (which provide consensus recommendations by a multidisciplinary panel of experts) that have been published in the past year.

While no resource is perfect, it is worthwhile to familiarize yourself with some contemporary methodology and predictive tools to help determine life expectancy in localized prostate cancer patients.

Three out of four patients with prostate cancer with an 18F-choline positron emission tomography/computed tomography–detected recurrence were potentially salvageable with local therapy or metastasis-directed therapy (MDT), according to results of the screening phase of the phase II STOMP randomized trial.

Two recent JAMA studies confirm a higher rate of sexual and urinary side effects with radical prostatectomy compared with radiation therapy and surveillance.

The update provides evidence-based recommendations for different patient risk groups and specifies the most effective forms of the treatment for patients with prostate cancer.

Other pipeline developments include efficacy results for a bladder and prostate cancer drug, an infertility tool to predict sperm quality, the initiation of an immunotherapy combination for mUC, and more.

In the arena of focal therapy for prostate cancer, standardization of management will be a key component of quality data going forward, says Scott Eggener, MD.

Phase III study results suggest that a hydrogel spacer developed to separate the rectum and prostate during radiotherapy for prostate cancer works to maintain bowel and urinary quality of life and reduces late rectal toxicity by 78% at 3 years post radiotherapy.

Clinicians may soon be able to improve the risk stratification of men with prostate cancer with the help of a genomic classifier or a biopsy-based reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay, according to the results of two studies presented at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in Orlando, FL.

A simple blood test that measures PSA structure rather than concentration may be more accurate than PSA in identifying men who need a prostate biopsy, according to the results of a study presented at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in Orlando, FL.

“We showed that we can safely compress radiation into a shorter time frame, into fewer treatments, at higher dose per fraction, with similar clinical outcomes and similar toxicity profiles,” said researcher Michael Wang, MD.

A definitive radiotherapy dose for localized prostate cancer can be safely administered using high-dose rate brachytherapy as a single outpatient procedure.

Mood and adjustment disorders were strong predictors of the annual number of outpatient visits, hospital admissions, and number of days in the hospital for patients with prostate and breast cancer, according to a recent study.

In preparation for the AUA annual meeting in May, urologist Henry Rosevear, MD, shares the 10 sessions he’s looking forward to the most.

Researchers have developed and validated a clinically useful prognostic model for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, which can be used in the front-line setting.

Radical prostatectomy performed on a Friday is associated with a higher complication rate and extended hospital stay compared with the same surgery performed on other days of the week.

A recent study has found that genetic predictors of normal PSA levels in healthy men could be used to improve the accuracy of PSA-based prostate cancer screening.

Urology-related FDA approvals from 2016 encompassed drugs and devices for prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma, bladder cancer, stone disease, and more.

Using multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging to triage men with high serum PSA could save about one-fourth of patients from having transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy, according to a recent study.

The addition of hormonal therapy in post-RP is “practice changing,” study author says.

Other products discussed include an updated prostate tissue ablation device, a contrast agent for voiding ultrasonography, a bladder cancer test and more.

"Rather than making a blanket statement regarding continued follow-up, we need to consider the pathologic features commonly known to increase the risk of [prostate cancer] recurrence-concurrent medical problems, the patient’s age at recurrence, PSA doubling time, longevity in the family, etc," writes J. Brantley Thrasher, MD.