Provenge treatment for advanced prostate cancer showing few side effects

US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT: The newly approved therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge, is safe and has few side effects, a new study finds. READ MORE>

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Provenge – what the FDA approval means for men with advanced prostate cancer

US PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: Provenge appears to extend survival in men with advanced prostate cancer, and it does so without the serious side effects associated with chemotherapy, radiation and hormone therapy. READ MORE>

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Researchers look at longer term brachytherapy side effects that involve the bowel

URO TODAY: Permanent brachytherapy implants sometimes have a detrimental effect on a patient’s bowel, so German researchers have been looking at whether side effects are any worse 30 days to a year after treatment. READ MORE>

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NZ docs too ‘scared’ to try some prostate cancer treatments with proven overseas records

JULY 10: PROSTABLOG NZ: “It’s sad that medical professionals in NZ are so scared of possible side effects from a treatment like Ketoconazole, that they refuse to even acknowledge it, even if it has been proven to be effective overseas.”

These words were written today by Mary – a Kiwi whose partner has advanced prostate cancer – as she describes the frustration of being unable to persuade NZ doctors to move outside what seem to her to be inflexible approaches to treatment.

“I produced prostate cancer digests from people I know who have had large drops in PSA on Keto, but I was told I know only a few people and trials showing side effects have been done on thousands,” she says.

“When I said I would like to see the papers on this, I was told I was not a doctor…and to this I respond “no, but I am the partner of a man with advanced cancer.”

READ the second chapter of Mary’s struggle to save her man.

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PROSTATE SCREENING: Otago researcher speaks out on select committee inquiry into prostate cancer

JUNE 27: OTAGO DAILY TIMES: Many men in New Zealand are suffering side effects after radiotherapy and surgery for prostate cancer which would never have killed them, and a screening programme would increase this, says University of Otago public health researcher Dr Brian Cox. READ MORE>

He was commenting on the recent announcement by chairman of the Health Committee Dr Paul Hutchison that the committee will conduct an inquiry into optimal screening (or early detection) and treatment of prostate cancer.

Dr Cox is concerned there is already considerable over treatment of men for this disease with very little evidence of any reduction in deaths from it.

Dr Cox, an epidemiologist, recently published an article in the New Zealand Medical Journal. READ IT HERE>

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