Prostate Knowledge Archive

Many men have questions regarding the testing and screening processes for prostate cancer, such as whether prostate-specific antigen tests are still the standard, when it is time for a biopsy, and what new technologies are available to help with a more accurate diagnosis. Harvard Medical School prostate cancer expert Dr. Marc Garnick provides the answers.

Prostatitis is a common inflammatory condition, but most cases have no obvious cause. Treatments are varied and include anti-inflammatory painkillers and alpha blockers, but a clinical trial showed that acupuncture has the potential to reduce symptoms of prostatitis without the side effects that drugs can cause.

In the United States, screening tests for prostate cancer are mostly done as biopsies through the rectum, but this procedure comes with a risk of infection. Technical advances are making it possible for doctors to perform a different kind of biopsy procedure in their offices, and a recent study compared the two types.

Some people being treated for cancer experience problems with memory and thinking, but most of the evidence for these effects comes from women undergoing treatment for breast cancer. A recent study looked at whether men being treated for prostate cancer experienced similar effects.

Worldwide, over one million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, and half will be given androgen deprivation therapy at some point. Whether certain types of this therapy are safer for the heart than others is an important question that is being studied, but the results from the first such trial were inconclusive and disappointing.

A genetic test that provides an assessment of how aggressive a man's prostate cancer is and how likely it is to spread within his body. A new study has investigated for the first time how results of this test are impacting treatment decisions — with surprising results.