Prostate Cancer

San Francisco, CA—A new tool called the Prostate Health Index (phi) can identify which patients with favorable-risk prostate cancer can safely be managed with active surveillance and which patients will probably require treatment. The phi index is relatively low tech and is calculated using 3 serum measurements: prostate-specific antigen (PSA), free/total PSA, and a measurement called [-2]proPSA.

A mutation in any 1 of a suite of DNA repair pathway genes may predict not only the risk for familial prostate cancer, but also indicate the presence of a particular aggressive form of the disease, according to results of a new UK study from the Institute of Cancer Research in London.

Results of a study reported at the 2014 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium showed that at 1.5 years after the last injection of this therapy, minimal myelosuppression and minimal nonhematologic adverse events were reported, and there were no reports of cancers of concern, including acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and primary bone cancer

San Francisco, CA—Longer-term follow-up of a large randomized phase 3 trial suggests that quality of life (QOL) is improved when patients with high-risk prostate cancer have a shorter versus longer course of androgen- deprivation therapy (ADT) plus radiotherapy as primary treatment. In this follow-up study, 18 months of ADT were found to improve QOL versus 36 months of ADT when added to radiotherapy.

San Francisco, CA—Men with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) had inferior time duration to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) progression and of progression-free survival (PFS) if they received the androgen receptor agonist enzalutamide (Xtandi) after the taxane docetaxel (Taxotere) rather than before, according to data from a retrospective study presented at the 2014 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

Niagara Falls, Ontario—Research­ers have determined that 18F-fluoro­deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), a widely available and relatively inexpensive imaging modality, could be used to shape treatment plans for patients who have been diagnosed with high Gleason score prostate cancer.

Niagara Falls, Ontario—Previous studies have shown an association between metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer. A study presented at the 2013 Canadian Urological Association annual meeting during a poster presentation investigated the level of prostate cancer risk in relation to the number of risk factors of metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer grade.

Niagara Falls, Ontario—Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging or MR-guided laser focal therapy for ablating low- to intermediate-risk prostate tumors is showing promise in the hands of a Toronto team, despite a relatively high failure rate.

Chicago, IL—The rate of therapy for localized prostate cancer does not increase in markets with higher penetration of robotic surgical technology and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), according to an examination of trends using the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare–linked data­base, according to a poster presentation at the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting by lead investigator Florian Rudolf Schroeck, MD, MS, Clinical Lecturer, Urology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Niagara Falls, Ontario—New data presented at the 2013 Canadian Urological Association annual meeting suggest that prostatic inflammation can reduce the risk for developing prostate cancer.