Genitourinary Cancers

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.

WILMINGTON, Delaware--Zeneca Pharmaceuticals has received FDA approval to market Zoladex (goserelin acetate implant) for use in combination with the antiandrogen flutamide (Eulexin) prior to and during radiation therapy for the management of early-stage prostate cancer (stages B2-C).

ANN ARBOR, Michigan--Prostate cancer patients are increasingly likely to ask their physicians about alternative (or complementary) therapies, and physicians need to know the evidence, or lack of evidence, supporting their use.

MIAMI--In terms of randomized trial results, the M-VAC (methotrexate, vinblastine, Adriamycin, cisplatin) regimen should probably be considered the standard of treatment for metastatic bladder cancer, but the overall outlook with this regimen is not optimal, and newer treatments are needed.

A team of molecular biologists have located a genetic switch in prostate cancer cells that may play a role in triggering a quiescent tumor to erupt into an invasive, deadly cancer.

LOS ANGELES--Early use of combination chemotherapy may have a role in the treatment of poor-prognosis, androgen-dependent prostate cancer, as well as androgen-independent patients, preliminary results from an ongoing study suggest. Evidence of anticancer activity has been seen in several patients treated with the combination of paclitaxel (Taxol), estramustine (Emcyt), and carboplatin (Paraplatin), William Kelly, DO, reported at the ASCO meeting.

ANN ARBOR, Michigan--The addition of androgen ablation to radiation therapy led to significant improvement in the rate of local failure, distant failure, and disease-free survival, but not overall survival, in men with large-volume, low-grade, locally advanced prostate cancer.

ANN ARBOR, Michigan--The typical candidate for radical prostatectomy does at least as well with three-dimensional (3D) conformal radiation therapy for early-stage prostate cancer, results of a University of Michigan study suggest. Findings in 172 consecutively treated patients showed a 95% actuarial survival 8 years after radiation therapy and an 85% rate of freedom from biochemical failure.

LOS ANGELES--Combined therapy with suramin and hydrocortisone significantly improved palliation over placebo plus hydrocortisone in hormone-refractory prostate cancer. The palliative improvement emerged within 6 weeks, and the difference between the regimens increased to the end of therapy, Eric Small, MD, reported at the ASCO integrated symposium on prostate cancer.

WASHINGTON--Citing inadequate data to prove efficacy, ODAC (Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee) voted unanimously against recommending that the FDA approve the new drug application for Anthra Pharmaceuticals’ valrubicin (Valstar).

LOS ANGELES--Preliminary results with a gene-therapy approach to recurrent prostate cancer suggest antitumor activity in at least some patients. Three of 18 patients have had decreases in PSA levels of more than 50%. The effects have persisted for 45 to 290 days, including one patient who became biopsy negative for a brief period of time.

QUEBEC CITY--For the first time, a randomized clinical trial of screening with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has been performed and shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer mortality.

NEW ORLEANS-A technique for rallying a prostate cancer patient’s antitumor response helps some patients without harming quality of life, Michael L. Salgaller, PhD, head of the immunothera-peutics division at Northwest Biother-apeutics, Seattle, reported at the 89th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

A gene discovered by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center may provide a target on prostate cancer cells for antibodies to attack, allowing the antibodies to destroy those cells while ignoring all others.

NEW ORLEANS--High concentrations of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in the circulation identify the men most at risk of prostate cancer as well as the women at highest risk of premenopausal breast cancer, according to results presented at the 89th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

The latest analysis of a large prevention trial conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Public Health Institute of Finland showed that long-term use of a moderate-dose vitamin E supplement substantially reduced prostate cancer incidence and deaths in male smokers. The report was published in the March 18, 1998, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and the lead author is Olli P. Heinonen, md, dsc, of the Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.

HELSINKI, Finland--Supplemental vitamin E significantly decreased both the incidence and mortality of prostate cancer in a large randomized trial of male smokers in Finland, said Olli P. Heinonen, MD, DSc, and his colleagues from the University of Helsinki, the National Cancer Institute, and Montefiore Medical Center, New York.