A new study at Division of Urologic Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, suggests the clinical incidence of prostate cancer continues to increase in the patient population, while the actual mortality has remained relatively low. As clinicians, we struggle to identify those patients who require intervention for their disease and to determine which treatment modality is best. Active surveillance, brachytherapy, external-beam radiation therapy, and surgical radical prostatectomy ... Read Full Story

Today, it was claimed that studies into male infertility in Northern Ireland have been dogged by lack of funds. A professor from Queen’s University said research councils or charities across the UK spend less than 1% of their income on reproductive research compared with 9% on cardiovascular and 27% on cancer studies. Infertility affects one in six couples around Europe and 40% of these problems affect the male partner. DNA damage to sperm is a major cause of male infertility. Read Full Story

According to a recent study at University of California at San Francisco, treatment decision-making can be difficult and complex for patients with low-risk prostate cancer. To the researchers’ knowledge, there is no consensus regarding an optimal treatment strategy and the choice of therapy involves tradeoffs between differing harms and benefits that are sensitive to patient values. In such situations, patients are often asked to participate actively in the decision-making process, and ... Read Full Story

Over the years a variety of factors have suggested an association between diet and risk for prostate cancer — with a particular emphasis on the “dangers” of larger quantities of things like red meat, meat fats, and milk-based products in the diet. Recently, a study at the University of Melbourne have conducted a prospective investigation of associations between dietary patterns and prostate cancer risk in 14,627 men of ages 34 to 75 years for an average of 13.6 years. The bottom line to what ... Read Full Story

The study of men in Canada, Poland and the United States found that those men treated with the PSD502 spray five minutes before intercourse were able to delay ejaculation up to five times longer than those who used a placebo. In addition, men who used the spray and their partners reported improved sexual satisfaction. A spray touted as the first potential treatment for premature ejaculation has proved effective in a second study, according to the company that developed it. PSD502 — whic... Read Full Story

Around 10,000 men in the UK die from prostate cancer each year. This is one of the reason Belfast City Hospital joins other leading research hospitals around the world in using the experimental drugs designed to help men whose cancer has spread to the bones. Experts hope men with advanced prostate cancer could be treated by new drugs being tested in Belfast. Specialists behind the trial said because the radiotherapy, known as an alpha-pharmaceutical, only works over very small distances the w... Read Full Story

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) era has changed the pattern of prostate cancer at presentation. Patients now present with lower-stage, lower-risk disease. However, some patients continue to present with high-risk prostate cancer (high-risk PC), and the effect of PSA introduction on outcome is less clear. A new review at Department of Urology, Mayo Clinic highlights the salient features of why radical prostatectomy should be considered in the management of men with high-risk PC (Gleason sc... Read Full Story

A major study suggests that drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third. The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found large quantities of alcohol could be even more beneficial for men. Female drinkers did not benefit to the same extent, the study in Heart found. Read Full Story

Two recent studies at the University of Chicago suggest that morphine and other opiate-based painkillers may be associated with the growth and spread of cancer cells. Both papers, scheduled to be presented Wednesday at an international cancer conference in Boston, also reveal how preventing opiates from reaching lung cancer cells reduces cancer cell proliferation, invasion and migration. Morphine can increase tumor cell proliferation, inhibit the immune system, promote the growth of new blood... Read Full Story

Management options for localized prostate cancer include radical prostatectomy (RP), radiation therapy (external-beam radiation therapy [EBRT] or brachytherapy), with and without androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), or active surveillance, also known as watchful waiting. Ultimately, the choice of treatment is determined by a variety of factors, including institutional preference, individual physician judgment, patient preference, and resource availability. A recent study at Cedars-Sinai Medica... Read Full Story