Genitourinary Cancers

BETHESDA, Md-The National Cancer Institute is funding a wide range of prostate cancer research, including genetic epidemiology, molecular diagnostics, diet and nutrition, animal models, surveillance, diagnostic imaging, clinical trials, prevention and early detection, and the Cancer Genome Anatomy Project .

WASHINGTON-The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has announced a national decision that Medicare will cover cryosurgery for patients with localized prostate cancer. The decision rescinds an October 1996 ruling against such coverage, which HCFA said reflected a lack of conclusive scientific evidence at that time in favor of the procedure. Additional evidence supporting its effectiveness led HCFA to reverse itself and grant coverage.

Dr. Vicini and colleagues provide an excellent review of the experience to date utilizing interstitial brachytherapy in the treatment of locally advanced prostate cancer. As the authors mention, ample evidence suggests the existence of a dose-

Vicini and colleagues present an informative, compelling review of both past and recent clinical investigations of the use of brachytherapy in patients with prostate cancer, particularly those with locally advanced disease. The tables presented at the

BUFFALO, NY-Roswell Park Cancer Institute is offering a new blood test to detect early prostate cancer. The complexed prostate-specific antigen (cPSA) test appears to be more accurate than standard PSA at differentiating between prostate cancer and benign conditions, and thus may eliminate the need for unnecessary biopsies when PSA tests are ambiguous

ROCKVILLE, Md-Patients with advanced prostate cancer treated with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists have essentially the same survival rate and experience roughly the same side effects regardless of which drug they receive, according to a technology assessment report prepared for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR).

CHICAGO-A Canadian study has shown that men with hormone-resistant prostate cancer have improved global and social function, fewer symptoms, and a greater improvement in quality of life (QOL) measures over time when mitoxantrone (Novantrone) is added to prednisone. A subset of patients who crossed over to mitoxantrone after prednisone therapy had failed also experienced significantly greater improvement in quality of life measures.

Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer (except skin cancer) in men. Several factors have been associated with an increased risk for prostate cancer, including age, ethnicity, family history, lifestyle, and

Ms. Bruner and colleagues from Fox Chase Cancer Center are to be congratulated for their comprehensive, well-designed program to maximize our understanding of prostate cancer in young men who are at high risk for developing the disease. I

Bruner et al describe a model for risk assessment and genetic counseling of individuals and families at increased risk for prostate cancer. This model includes the establishment of a prostate cancer risk registry and screening clinic for unaffected

Bruner and colleagues describe a comprehensive, long-term research program designed to understand, model, and modify prostate cancer risk. According to the investigators, the main problem with early prostate cancer risk screening is the

The promise of using reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology for the detection of circulating prostate cancer cells in peripheral blood, although technically feasible at the molecular level, has proven clinically impractical for routine implementation in patient management. Reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction has been successfully applied to detect and quantify (relatively speaking) genes that are differentially expressed in cells and tissues obtained from patients during various stages of malignant growth. In addition, the method has been applied to the detection of circulating cancer cells in peripheral blood using highly specific primer sets for specific molecular targets. These include epithelial cell cytokeratins for breast cancer, as well as enzymes, such as tyrosinase for melanoma and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) for prostate cancer, using either nonnested or nested methodologies.

The article by Drs. de la Taille, Olson, and Katz is an accurate and concise review of clinical studies for the detection of circulating prostate cancer cells using reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology. These investigators from the Department of Urology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center have as much experience as any group in the use of RT-PCR for this purpose. Initially very strong proponents of the efficacy of RT-PCR as a staging tool, they have become slightly more reserved in the current article. In this well-written review, the authors allude to a number of issues affecting RT-PCR results from prostate cancer patients that deserve further comment.

Dr. de la Taille and colleagues from Columbia University provide an overview of the concept of molecular staging” of prostate cancer using reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). They do an admirable job of summarizing all of the currently available data on the results of this assay in the clinical staging of prostate cancer. As they note, only their group and one other have been able to demonstrate that a positive assay correlates with final pathologic stage. A limited number of other studies have suggested that the RT-PCR assay can predict prostate-specific antigen (PSA) recurrence.

The reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay is an extremely sensitive technique for the detection of circulating cells expressing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in prostate cancer patients. This

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have received funding to investigate the long-term effects of chemotherapy on men surviving testicular cancer.

PHOENIX-A self-administered questionnaire that measures patients’ sexual problems after radiation therapy for prostate cancer has now been validated and could provide a means of standardizing reports of sexual dysfunction after prostate cancer treatment.

ATHENS-In patients with advanced or inoperable prostate cancer, intermittent androgen suppression shows promise as an equally effective, less toxic, and cheaper alternative to continuous hormone blockade, Dr. Sergio Bracarda, of Perugia University (Italy), said at the 23rd Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).

Superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder comprises an extremely heterogeneous group of tumors, both in terms of morphology and, even more importantly, in terms of tumor biology and clinical behavior. Drs. deVere White and Stapp provide a succinct overview of the challenges encountered clinically because of tumor heterogeneity and the availability of different treatment options. The authors also outline the use of traditional prognostic factors (clinicopathologic characteristics) and the current state of development of biological markers that hold promise in providing significant clinically useful prognostic information.

Bladder cancer is the most common urologic malignancy and is expected to affect approximately 54,000 people in 1998. Superficial bladder tumors (Tis, Ta, and T1 lesions) account for approximately 70% to 80% of these

Determination of the percentage of free prostate specific antigen (PSA) via a simple blood test improves the diagnosis of prostate cancer and may limit the need for biopsies, according to two studies published in the September issue of Urology.

BETHESDA, Md--Citing "an unprecedented opportunity to make substantial strides in the treatment of prostate cancer," an outside panel has urged the National Cancer Institute to increase funding and broaden efforts to understand and defeat the second leading cause of cancer deaths among US men.

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla--Is brachy-therapy for prostate cancer a ‘gimmick’ or a new treatment technique with numerous advantages over either radical prostatectomy or external beam radiotherapy? Very definitely the latter, Jay Friedland, MD, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, said at the Southern Association for Oncology (SAO) 11th annual meeting.

The optimal management of patients with lymph node-positive prostate cancer remains controversial. The role of pelvic irradiation in patients at high risk for nodal involvement continues to be debated. Studies of prostate

BETHESDA, Md--The Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) has voted not to recommend that the Food and Drug Administration approve Metaret (suramin hexasodium for injection, Parke-Davis) for the treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

The optimal management of patients with lymph node-positive prostate cancer remains controversial. The role of pelvic irradiation in patients at high risk for nodal involvement continues to be debated. Studies of prostate

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, with an estimated 200,000 new cases diagnosed in 1998.[1] Compared with white men, African-American men have a 66% higher incidence of prostate cancer and mortality rates twice as high.[1]

The optimal management of patients with lymph node-positive prostate cancer remains controversial. The role of pelvic irradiation in patients at high risk for nodal involvement continues to be debated. Studies of prostate

STRATFORD, Connecticut--Several studies have shown the ability of the percent-free PSA blood test to help differentiate benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) from prostate cancer among men with elevated PSA levels and thus reduce the need for prostate biopsy. Now, two studies in the September issue of Urology have further defined the situations in which percent-free PSA may be used to improve the performance of total PSA level results.

PRINCETON, NJ--Cytogen Corporation is sponsoring a new website on prostate cancer that highlights its diagnostic imaging agent ProstaScint. The agent is used in newly diagnosed patients at high risk for metastases and in postprostatectomy patients with a high suspicion of recurrence or spread.