Prostate Health Archive

Combining a chemotherapy drug called docetaxel with hormone therapy (androgen-deprivation therapy) to treat advanced prostate cancer appears to work better than starting with hormone therapy and adding docetaxel later.

Prostate cancer tends to be more aggressive in men with low levels of vitamin D. Among African American men, low vitamin D is also linked to a higher risk of developing prostate cancer.

A study published in the journal European Urology suggests that men who have defects in a cancer-suppressing gene known as BRCA are at high risk for aggressive prostate tumors, and so could benefit from PSA testing.

An FDA advisory panel rejected a French company’s application to market high intensity focused ultrasound as a treatment for localized prostate cancer.

In men with cancer that has spread beyond the prostate gland, radiation therapy plus hormone therapy can ease symptoms and improve survival. But some doctors give hormone therapy by itself to millions of men with localized tumors that haven’t spread beyond the prostate. A new study shows that this approach doesn’t help, and may hurt.

With their ability to smell tiny amounts of chemicals, trained dogs can easily find explosives or illegal drugs hidden in a suitcase. But mounting evidence points to another helpful job for man’s best friend: finding prostate cancer before it causes any symptoms.

Men who experience a spike in PSA but who have no symptoms after surgery or radiation therapy for prostate cancer can wait for up to two years before starting hormone therapy, according to a new study.

Some men have a slightly shorter penis after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous prostate gland. A new study shows that taking an erectile dysfunction drug like Viagra or Cialis after surgery can prevent that from happening.

Thanks in part to advertising, many men with prostate cancer believe that they’ll get better results with robot-assisted prostate surgery than with more traditional open surgery. The latest study doesn’t bear that out.

Taking supplements of selenium or vitamin E, once thought to prevent prostate cancer, seems to do just the opposite. A new report shows that men who take vitamin E or selenium are at higher risk for developing prostate cancer. Bottom line: men shouldn’t take selenium or vitamin E as a way to prevent prostate cancer, or anything else for that matter.