In Australia, and to a smaller but increasing extent in the U.S., urologists are moving away from the traditional transrectal (TR) biopsy. A much lower risk of infection is a big reason why. Nobody wants a prostate biopsy, but we’re stuck with it. Literally. Multiple times. And for the vast majority of men (more […]
Troubling news from a new study, published in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences: Baby Boomers’ brains aren’t aging well. Compared to previous generations, Boomers in this ongoing study, of 30,191 Americans over age 50, are experiencing a sharper drop in cognitive function, and are more likely to develop dementia. And… PAUSE! Before we start […]
Please Read This Before You Go Under the Knife. Nobody thinks a prostatectomy will be a breeze; if anybody tells you that, take it with a big old mental grain of salt. Even with the best surgeon in the world, there will still be some incontinence and erectile dysfunction. But ideally, with exercises, biofeedback if necessary, […]
Maybe you’re in your 50s, and your PSA is 3. Maybe you’re in your 60s, and it’s 4. Maybe you’re in your 40s, and it’s 2. And maybe, unfortunately, your family doctor seems in no hurry to do anything about it, saying something complacent like, “Your PSA looks good,” or “the government guidelines don’t really […]
Cancer loves sugar, and sugar really loves cancer. Isn’t that sweet? Actually, no, it’s more like a match made in hell – because sugar (glucose) makes many types of cancer grow faster. Scientists have long known that cancers soak up glucose like a sponge; in fact, German physiologist Otto Warburg, who found that tumors extract […]
Why has the COVID-19 virus killed many more men than women? What does the virus have to do with male hormones? Well, quite a lot, it turns out, and a lot of what scientists now know about this male hormone (androgen)-virus interaction comes from scientists studying prostate cancer. Scientists whose research happens to have been […]
Oligometastasis: Good News from the ORIOLE Study To the growing and hopeful list of strategies for attacking prostate cancer, let us add this approach: Whack-a-Mole. That’s how Johns Hopkins radiation oncologist Phuoc Tran, M.D., Ph.D., describes it to his patients. The actual scientific name for this highly sophisticated strategy is stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR, highly […]