The respiratory, enteric, orphan virus (commonly known as reovirus) is a non-attenuated, environmental virus that has shown oncolytic potential against many types of cancer, specifically lymphoid, ovarian, breast, pancreatic and high grade glioma cancer, according to the study. This is the first time the virus has been studied against prostate cancer.

Research study was published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

U.S. researchers evaluated data on more than 85,000 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 and olde. All of them were diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1994 and 2002. Of those patients, 50 percent were seen only by urologists, 44 percent by urologists and radiation oncologists, 3 percent by urologists and medical oncologists, and 3 percent by all three specialists.

The researchers found a strong association between the type of treatment and the type of specialist consulted, according to a news release from the journal’s publisher.

According to the report published in the March 8 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, within nine months after diagnosis, 21 percent of patients had surgery to remove the prostate and surrounding tissue (radical prostatectomy), 42 percent had received radiation therapy, 17 percent underwent a hormone therapy called primary androgen deprivation and 20 percent chose no treatment (”watchful waiting”).

The authors conclude that, in this series of radical prostatectomy patients, followed over a total period of 43 years, less than 10 percent of patients went on to have metastases and nearly 30 percent died of causes other than prostate cancer. They state in their conclusion that, it is important for patients with metastatic disease to be appropriately monitored by physicians whose primary interest is not in prostate cancer, since many such patients are going to be at significant risk for co-morbid conditions that may cause their death. However, local and distant control outcomes are excellent, and cancer specific mortality is minimal even 30 years after surgery.

Delivered in a continuous rotation of the treatment machine around the patient, arc therapy techniques such as Varian’s RapidArc technology are supposed to be fast and efficient radiotherapy treatments. For better tracking of tumor motion, its position must be updated in real-time in order to be reached by the dynamic multi-leaf collimator (DMLC). To achieve this target, a combination of MV portal images and kV orthogonal images have been tested by researchers. [ more about radiotherapy treatment ]

The new guidelines acknowledge the uncertainties surrounding PSA tests, which have been controversial for some time because assorted studies have produced conflicting results about the value of the screenings.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests do detect cancers. But, because PSA test cannot make difference between slow and quick developing cancers, it can make the situation worse by revealing malignancies that wouldn’t cause a problem over a man’s lifetime. By consequence, the PSA screening will lead to unnecessary treatments and undesirable side effects, such as urinary incontinence and impotence. At the same time, it will re-emphasize the need for patient-doctor discussions on whether such tests are appropriate for individual patients.

The authors conclude that the occurrence of biochemical recurrence was found to increase the risk of death in men undergoing prostatectomy for prostate cancer, and this risk appeared to increase as the time to biochemical recurrence shortened. However, the addition of radiotherapy and/or hormonaltherapy in men with biochemical recurrence significantly lowered this risk.

Recently, researchers have suggested an unexpected way to treat this disease, by using estrogen, a hormone normally associated with women- a key breakthrough which they claim could pave the way for new treatments.

According to scientists, the research provides proof of the controversial concept that estrogens could be good for men and can be used therapeutically to treat prostate cancer.

Researchers have reported data suggesting that some selective estrogen receptor-? (ER?) agonists may have efficacy in the treatment of prostate cancer - most specifically in patients who are refractory to standard forms of hormone therapy. Their study is based on the effects of the selective ER? agonist known as 8?-VE2 in mice, so it will be a while before we know whether this strategy actually works in man.

It may be possible to used ER? agonists and other forms of estrogen therapy in the treatment of prostate cancer and BPH, but there will be a lot of work to do before we can be certain.

In the same paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the authors also report data suggesting that ER? agonists might be useful in the management of benign prostatic hyperplasia or enlargement of the prostate.

Researchrs concluded that metastatic progression is infrequent in men with low-risk prostate cancer treated with either radical prostatectomy or external beam radiotherapy. Radical prostatectomy patients with higher-risk disease treated had a lower risk of metastatic progression and prostate cancer-specific death than external beam radiotherapy patients. However, these results may be confounded by differences in the use and timing of salvage therapy.

• role of psychosocial variables in treatment decision making for patients with localized prostate cancer, and
• how family physicians can be of most help to such patients in facilitating good treatment choices.

From the very beginning, researchers suggest that the optimal strategy for managing localized prostate cancer has not been established. Currently options for treatment include a number of potential ways: active surveillance, radical prostatectomy, external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy, and cryoablation.

Study concluded family physicians can help minimize the decisional regret experienced by patients after treatment by encouraging patients to consider their values and social supports, as well as the accuracy and appropriateness of the information used in the decision-making process. However, an increased awareness of the psychosocial aspects of patient decision making, can teach family physicians for helping patients make better decisions.