[Hopespringpcsg] FW: PC Information Newsletter - November

[Glen Tolhurst]

Hi all:

See below for the PCCN Oakville/Mississauga e- newsletter.

Thx.

Glen 

 


To: PC Support Group
Subject: PC Information Newsletter - November

 

Hello to all. FYI for new folks, this is my summary of anything interesting
or educational that I picked up in my reading over the past month. 
Enjoy your weekend. Feel free to comment and/or ask questions. Next Support
Group meeting Wednesday Dec 18th.

Walter

 

A Common Sense Approach to the PSA Test

Dr. Larry Goldenberg is a well-respected urologist and scientist at the
Vancouver Prostate Centre and author of The Intelligent Patient Guide to
Prostate Cancer (copy in our Wellspring library). Here he tells it like it
is on the PSA test "PSA is not stepping onto a slippery slope to inevitable
biopsies, surgery, radiation and chemotherapy; it is just a single decision
point". Well worth reading and sharing.

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/larry-goldenberg-checking-psa-is-not-
stepping-onto-a-slippery-slope-to-inevitable-biopsies

 

Surgery or Radiation?

I had my surgery almost 9 years ago. I have said in meetings that, if it
were today, I would give radiation more serious consideration because of the
advances that have taken place. In this short video, Dr. Mark Scholz makes a
similar case for radiation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pya8N78bR7s
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pya8N78bR7s&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2Ds
JFeEvktgh60bYWBATMfFPGCaA0nK_0jIfBJcMdDZgnywtHGpxSd9ZM&app=desktop>
&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2DsJFeEvktgh60bYWBATMfFPGCaA0nK_0jIfBJcMdDZgnyw
tHGpxSd9ZM&app=desktop

 

LINAC at Sunnybrook

Back in August, I reported on Sunnybrook starting up their new MRI-Linac
radiation equipment. The first prostate cancer patient has now been treated.
https://sunnybrook.ca/media/item.asp?c=1
<https://sunnybrook.ca/media/item.asp?c=1&i=2002&f=first-prostate-patient-mr
-linac> &i=2002&f=first-prostate-patient-mr-linac

Think of it this way - what's the use of having new techniques such as SABR
that can direct radiation within a millimeter or two if the prostate itself
moves more than that from one treatment to the next? That's where
'real-time' MRI guidance comes in.
https://sunnybrook.ca/content/?page=occ-radonc-cancer-mr-linac

 

Germline Testing

Germline Testing checks a person's DNA for genetic mutations, including
those that may increase their lifetime risk of developing cancers such as
prostate cancer and others. Here is an indication of how germline testing
may soon be incorporated into diagnosis and treatment

https://www.renalandurologynews.com/home/expert-perspectives/brian-t-helfand
-md-phd/

 

Survival vs. Quality of Life

"Although men with prostate cancer are living longer, they are not
necessarily living well, with symptom burden increasing and quality of life
declining over time". 
This Australian study highlights what is becoming an ever-increasing issue
in the care of PC patients. More and more new drugs, new chemo treatments,
radio nucleotide treatments, combination therapies, third-line treatments
after second-line treatments, etc. may add to survival but at what cost to
QOL?
https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/prostate-cancer-survival-rates-at-
all-time-high-bu

 

When Treatment Stops Working

This is a short, straightforward explanation of the steps in the evolution
of prostate cancer and the treatments for it.

https://www.pcf.org/c/when-treatment-stops-working-blame-resistance/?utm_sou
rce=PCFlist
<https://www.pcf.org/c/when-treatment-stops-working-blame-resistance/?utm_so
urce=PCFlist&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019EOYE6d>
&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019EOYE6d

 

Treatment of Advanced PC

Not so short or straightforward but, if you are interested enough to get
into the details of new treatments and emerging treatments for advanced PC,
you will want to read this summary
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6441973/

 

Optimal sequencing of Enzalutamide and Abiraterone Acetate 

In treatment of metastatic PC, ADT stops working at some point, PSA goes up
and the patient is 'castrate resistant' (mCRPC). Next comes abiraterone
acetate (Zytiga) or enzalutamide (Xtandi) and when one of these stops
working the oncologist might then try the other. This article suggests that
using a sequencing strategy of abiraterone acetate followed by enzalutamide
provides the greatest clinical benefit.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(19)30688-6/f
ulltext?rss=yes#.Xdb1lKgQbdU.twitter

 

 

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