Prostate Cancer

Focal therapy has been promoted as a minimally morbid option for men with localized low-risk prostate cancer who nevertheless want their disease treated. Opponents of focal therapy note the heterogeneity and multifocal nature of prostate cancer, the difficulty of accurately targeting and destroying an index tumor with focal therapy, and the unknown biologic potential of the tumor.

Researchers have come up with a potential blood-based biomarker that can identify men with castration-resistant prostate cancer who are not likely to respond to enzalutamide (XTANDI).

A new study has found that for men 65 years of age and older, robot-assisted radical prostatectomy and open prostatectomy have similar rates of complications, providing further evidence that outcomes between the two procedures are not significantly different.

Research in advanced prostate cancer is largely focused on newer agents for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, including abiraterone acetate (ZYTIGA), enzalutamide (XTANDI), radium Ra 223 dichloride (Xofigo), and the immunotherapy sipuleucel-T (Provenge).

Drugs and devices in the pipeline from Astellas Pharma, Medivation, Repros Therapeutics, Metamark Genetics, Argos Therapeutics, S1 Biopharma, Ipsen, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, Antigen Express, Generex Biotechnology, Veloxis Pharmaceuticals, and Absorption Pharmaceuticals.

New products and services from Accuray, Cook Medical, OPKO Health, Intuitive Surgical, Skipta, Mauna Kea Technologies, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.

About one-fourth of men with slow-growing prostate cancer who undergo active surveillance drop out of the program, according to findings from a relatively small European study.

Adding local radiotherapy to hormonal treatment more than halves long-term prostate cancer-specific mortality and substantially decreases overall mortality in men with non-metastatic locally advanced or high-risk prostate cancer, according to an updated analysis of clinical trial data from the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group’s Study VII.

Three-dimensional mapping biopsy (3DMB) of the prostate provides a more accurate disease assessment and in doing so may allow more confident decision making when patients and their physicians are trying to resolve issues surrounding observation or more aggressive therapies, a study from the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, suggests.

Higher PSA density at diagnosis is associated with biopsy progression of low-risk prostate cancer in patients enrolled in active surveillance.

Dose-escalated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with use of a moderate hypofractionation regimen (72 Gy in 2.4-Gy fractions) can safely treat patients with localized prostate cancer with limited grade 2 or 3 late toxicity, according to a recently published study.

Among men undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer, daily use of the phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor tadalafil (Cialis), compared with placebo, did not prevent loss of erectile function, a recently published study found.

This guide features products and services from manufacturers that are exhibiting at the AUA annual meeting in Orlando. Exhibit hall booth numbers have been included so that you can search for product demonstrations and exhibits that are of particular interest to you.

Primary androgen deprivation therapy in men with localized prostate cancer appears to offer no survival benefit.

The investigational 17,20 lyase inhibitor orteronel failed to significantly extend overall survival in an international phase III study of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Although the activity of enzalutamide (XTANDI) is blunted in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have been treated previously with abiraterone acetate (ZYTIGA), a meaningful number of these patients still experience a decline in PSA level with enzalutamide, according to a recent study.

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in hypogonadal men does not appear to increase the risk for prostate cancer, according to an evaluation of 224 men with an indication for prostate biopsy, providing further evidence that TRT need not be avoided in this patient group.

A study from the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center appears to once again prove that time is money. The study’s findings indicate that up to $15 million could be saved annually by referring patients who are candidates for robot-assisted radical prostatectomy to surgeons and surgical centers with optimal operating times.

Astellas Pharma Inc. and Medivation Inc. have submitted a supplemental new drug application to the FDA seeking approval of enzalutamide (XTANDI) capsules for the treatment of men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who have not received chemotherapy.

A new generation of prostate cancer biomarkers promises to alter the way in which urologists make clinical management decisions.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against routine prostate cancer screening has resulted in a decrease in the number of PSA-based screenings ordered by physicians, with the greatest decline seen among urologists, according to findings of recently published study that one leading prostate cancer expert says raises more questions than it answers.

Levels of bisphenol A in men’s urine could be a marker of prostate cancer, and male exposure to other environmental chemicals used in the manufacture of plastics appear to negatively impact time to pregnancy, two separate studies have found.

Learn more about MRI-guided biopsy with these videos.

Radical prostatectomy is associated with a substantial long-term reduction in mortality in men with localized cancer, especially in younger patients, according to newly published data from one of the few randomized trials to directly address the surgery-versus-surveillance issue.

Prostate cancer patients who undergo robot-assisted radical prostatectomy have fewer positive surgical margins and less need for additional cancer treatments such as hormone or radiation therapy than patients undergoing open surgery, an observational study from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has found.