Category: Research

Day 3,260 – Research Articles on Prostate Cancer

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Recurrence, Research, Treatment1 Comment

One of the cool things about working in a hospital is that I can access full versions of some of the scholarly articles on prostate cancer that are normally blocked to the public by their publishers. At the end of the day today, I pulled the full versions of each of these articles for a little light bedtime reading about salvage radiation therapy, toxicities, and imaging:

Long-term Outcome of Prostate Cancer Patients Who Exhibit Biochemical Failure Despite Salvage Radiation Therapy After Radical Prostatectomy.

Improved toxicity profile following high-dose postprostatectomy salvage radiation therapy with intensity-modulated radiation therapy.

Long-term outcomes after high-dose postprostatectomy salvage radiation treatment.

Multimodality Imaging of Prostate Cancer.

Salvage radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy: Long-term results of urinary incontinence, toxicity and treatment outcomes

Outcomes of salvage radiotherapy for recurrent prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy.

I skimmed a couple of them on the bus ride home this evening (as much as you can skim on a bouncing bus), and I’ll go through each in a little more detail before my appointment a week from tomorrow.

When I pull articles like this, I consider a few things when reading them:

  • When was the article published? Obviously, more recent is generally better, although you can’t discount data from earlier studies entirely.
  • What type of research was done? Was it a retrospective study of historical medical records or was it a full-blown trial?
  • How many patients were included in the study? Fewer patients (<100) may yield less reliable results than those that include several thousand.
  • Over what time period did the study look at patients? Studies that looked at records from the 1990’s into the early 2000’s will reflect the treatment options and technologies available at that time. Studies done more recently will reflect the impact of newer treatment options and technologies.
  • Who conducted or funded the study? Who’s conducting a study and how it’s paid for could, in theory, perhaps skew the results (e.g., Big Pharma wanting to push a new drug).

So I’ll be going through each article, gleaning whatever I think may be of value for the appointment, adding to my list of questions to be asked.

Please don’t ask me to share the full versions of the articles here or elsewhere. Not only am I cancer-averse, I’m litigation averse. I’m not keen on a copyright infringement lawsuit because I posted something on this blog/website that I didn’t have permission to do. 🙂

That said, I may try to summarize some of the findings in future posts, with full attribution of any quotes, of course.

Off to read a bedtime story or two…

Projecting risk for metastasis after radical prostatectomy — THE “NEW” PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Recurrence, Research2 Comments

I came across this article in one of my feeds. There isn’t an “Ah-ha!” moment in it, but it’s good to see research confirming what many have known with data.

A new paper in Clinical Genitourinary Cancer has provided us with some more detailed information about risk for metastasis in men with recurrent prostate cancer after first-line surgery.

via Projecting risk for metastasis after radical prostatectomy — THE “NEW” PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

High-dose vitamin D: negative results from a randomized clinical trial — THE “NEW” PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Research3 Comments

Here’s an interesting trial with surprising results.

Data from a recently published, Canadian, clinical trial of high-dose vitamin D as a method to strengthen bones in healthy adults who do not have osteoporosis have had significant and unexpectedly negative results.

via High-dose vitamin D: negative results from a randomized clinical trial — THE “NEW” PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

Month 105 – Skipped PSA and Imaging News

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Recurrence, ResearchLeave a comment

Last week was a little weird for me. If I had kept to my four-month PSA testing cycle instead of the new, agreed upon six month cycle, I would have gone to the clinic and had Dracula siphon off another vial of blood. But I didn’t, and it felt pretty comfortable with that. Still, a little voice in my head wondered what my current PSA level is, but in a non-panicky kind of way. More in just a plot-the-next-data-point-on-my-chart kind of way.

I’ll go for the PSA test in late September or early October. My schedule that time of year is a bit crazy, so I need to carve out a date and time and get it on my calendar.

It’s hard to believe, too, that in a few weeks it will be four years since my PSA became detectable again. With a calculated PSA doubling time of over 150 months, I’ve been pretty comfortable taking the surveillance approach that I have for as long as I have. There are moments, however, where I do ask myself if I’m taking too great a risk by using that approach. Those thoughts have popped into my head a little more frequently since my hallway consult with the radiation oncologist a few weeks ago.

Maybe the test results in October will give me more clarity and a better sense of direction; maybe they won’t.

In other news, I saw the recent article comparing the effectiveness of the 18F-fluciclovine (Axumin) imaging against that of the  68Ga PSMA imaging. The study used 50 patients with PSAs ranging from 0.2 to 2.0.

The PSMA imaging is proving itself to be more effective at detecting the locations of recurrent cancer but the kicker is that it’s not yet an FDA approved imaging technology.

Still, it’s good to see that progress is being made in the research for those of us who would really like to know that we’re going to be zapping where the cancer is rather than somewhat randomly based on statistics. I’m sure there will be more to come.

Month 103 – Regaining Focus

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Recurrence, Research4 Comments

Last month I talked about turning a corner in my outlook on my current situation, and boy, I must have fish-tailed around that corner—fast—because cancer has been the furthest thing from my mind pretty much the entire month. Work had a lot to do with that, too.

I’m the volunteer manager for a nonprofit, and we had one weekend last month with five events going on all on the same day at five different locations, and I had to provide 160 volunteers in one day to cover them all. Plus, we had three other events later in the month that needed another 80 volunteers between them. Needless to say, my attention was on getting each of those events fully staffed, and thoughts of cancer fell by the wayside. That’s good.

One unintended side effect from all this is that I really haven’t been keeping up on the advances in the imaging technologies and latest research on treatment of recurrent prostate cancer like I once did. It’s actually been a refreshing break, but I want to get back into researching again so that I have the most current information available when I go for my next PSA test in October.

The cool thing this time around, though, is that I’ll be doing this research from the perspective of educating myself at a leisurely pace rather than one of  being constantly glued to cancer websites in sheer panic because my PSA was rising. That’s turning a corner.

My next post on 4 July 2019 should be a little more substantial. It will be my semi-annual Life After Radical Prostatectomy: 102 Months Later post with more detailed updates about how I’m doing eight and a half years after the surgery.

A review of PET Imaging for Recurrent Prostate Cancer

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Recurrence, Research2 Comments

This is a quite informative paper from Practical Radiation Oncology, giving a good overview of the newer imaging technologies being developed to identify the location of recurrent prostate cancer before beginning salvage radiation therapy.

Prostate cancer–specific PET radiotracers: A review on the clinical utility in recurrent disease

I’ll comment in a separate post on where my head is at after receiving my latest PSA results.

PSMA-SRT Randomized Phase 3 Trial is now open at UCLA

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Research3 Comments

Every now and again I’m asked to share information on my blog, and this was something that is of personal interest to me given my current situation. It’s from the UCLA Nuclear Medicine department and will likely be of interest to others as well.

They reference a couple of attachments in their email to me, but none were attached.

We have the pleasure to announce the opening of a Randomized Prospective phase 3 trial of PSMA PET/CT based salvage radiation therapy (PSMA-SRT) at UCLA Nuclear Medicine (NCT03582774).

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03582774

This is the first randomized prospective phase 3 trial designed to determine whether PSMA PET/CT can improve outcomes in patients with prostate cancer biochemical recurrence.

PSMA PET/CT will be free of charge for patients (100% sponsored by UCLA Nuclear Medicine).

Patients who are planned for salvage radiation therapy (SRT) for recurrence after primary prostatectomy with PSA ≥ 0.1 ng/ml are candidate.

We will randomize patients to proceed with standard SRT (control arm 1) or undergo a PSMA PET/CT scan prior SRT planning (investigational arm 2).

Patients randomized to control arm 1 will not undergo PSMA PET/CT: SRT will be performed as routinely planned per discretion of the treating radiation oncologist. Any other imaging will be allowed for SRT planning if done per routine care.

Patients assigned to arm 2 will be scheduled to undergo a PSMA PET/CT scan at UCLA Nuclear Medicine (free of charge) prior to radiation therapy planning. DICOM images and reports of PSMA PET/CT scans will be delivered to the treating radiation oncologist.

The radiation oncologist may change the radiation plan depending on the findings of the PSMA PET/CT scan. That is, the treating radiation oncologist may use whatever dose, fractionation, and target volumes they choose, and may use concurrent ADT or not, at their discretion (please see the attached document for the radiation therapy management specifications).

The primary endpoint of the trial is the success rate of SRT measured as 5-year biochemical progression-free survival after initiation of SRT.

Patients will be followed by the UCLA Nuclear medicine research team for up to 5 years after initiation of SRT (phone/fax/secure emails with the treating radiation oncologist team and/or with the patient) every 3-6 months (routine PSA and imaging).

To enroll a patient:

  • All subjects must sign the UCLA IRB approved informed consent form (ICF, attached) before enrollment and randomization.
  • For UCLA patients, this will be done after a consultation with the UCLA Nuclear Medicine Team or the UCLA Radiation Oncology Team.
  • For all other patients outside of UCLA, this will be done after a phone consultation with the UCLA nuclear medicine research team. Signed ICF will then be obtained by fax or email.
  • The randomization number and assigned arm will be communicated by phone or email to treating physicians and patients one day after the enrollment.
  • Patients randomized to control arm 1 will not need to come at UCLA and will receive SRT per routine care at the treating radiation oncologist institution.

This trial represents a good opportunity for all the patients who cannot afford the out-of-pocket costs of a research PSMA PET/CT (at UCLA: around $2700).

Please try to spread the word as much as you can around you.

In advance I thank you very much for your collaboration.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any question:

Jeaninne Gartmann, Study Coordinator: JGartmann@mednet.ucla.edu
Jeremie Calais, Principal Investigator: JCalais@mednet.ucla.edu
Nicholas Nickols, Co-Principal Investigator: NNickols@mednet.ucla.edu

Best regards

Jeremie Calais MD MSc
Assistant Professor
UCLA Nuclear Medicine

Medical Xpress: Research finds ‘Achilles heel’ for aggressive prostate cancer

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, ResearchLeave a comment

Here’s an interesting article that shows promise in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer that popped up in one of my news feeds.

Medical Xpress: Research finds ‘Achilles heel’ for aggressive prostate cancer.

 

NEJM: Quality of Life and Satisfaction with Outcome among Prostate-Cancer Survivors

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, Research6 Comments

As you could tell from my last post, I’ve really been focusing on the impact of any salvage treatment options on the quality of life (QOL), both during treatment and longer-term.

I stumbled across this 2008 study, Quality of Life and Satisfaction with Outcome among Prostate Cancer Survivors, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, but it shows the QOL impact after first-line treatment only.

Tables 2 and 4 in the paper are precisely how this data-driven, numbers geek would love to see the information on salvage therapies presented. Obviously, the categories measured may have to be modified and expanded to include the known side effects of the salvage treatments.

If Dr. Martin G. Sanda, et al., stumble across this post and care to build upon their previous excellent work, please feel free to do so! In the interim, I’ll keep searching.

 

PCF Article: New Biomarker Predicts Metastatic Prostate Cancers

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, ResearchLeave a comment

Here’s an interesting article from the Prostate Cancer Foundation about a potentially exciting development in the ability to determine which prostate cancer tumors are more likely to metastasize.

New Biomarker Predicts Metastatic Prostate Cancers