GENITOURINARY CANCERS

Aspirin, normally associated with heart health, may not extend to the reduction of risk in prostate cancer, according to the results of an observational study.

Resistance to androgen receptor therapies in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) has historically posed a challenge to clinicians. Now, a new blood test that analyzes circulating tumor cells (CTCs) could help overcoming these hurdles.

The FDA has approved a new treatment consisting of a non-alcohol formulation of docetaxel in patients with breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, gastric adenocarcinoma, and head and neck cancer.

Figlin says drugs like lenvatinib, everolimus, and cabozantinib have emerged in recent years as possible first-line therapies for RCC.

Urologists face a challenge in delineating the optimal sequence of treatment more and more as the goal for treating prostate cancer moves toward greater use of targeted therapies. While these treatment eradicate disease, urologists must minimize the risk of adverse events.

With a renewed armory of treatments consisting heavily of immunotherapies, urologists can employ new paradigms of treatment for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

A new study from the University of California, Los Angeles shows that less than 5% of men who opt for active surveillance of their low-risk prostate cancer receive the proper amount of monitoring.

Living a healthier lifestyle could be a robust preventative measure against metastatic prostate cancer. One new study suggests that leading a healthy lifestyle could reduce a man's chances of developing the cancer by up to 68%.

Recent studies suggest that RP may be a better initial treatment given many of these patients require multimodal therapy to manage their disease. The question about radiation versus surgery lies in the details, with treatment tailored to each patient.

Emmanuel S. Antonarakis, MBBCh, assistant professor, Johns Hopkins Medicine, on the coming importance of being tested for the ARV7 marker and future treatments for patients with the marker.

Joe O'Sullivan, MD, on utilizing radium-223 treatment earlier in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Several recent trials have shown that a combination of docetaxel in conjunction with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is optimal in treating oligometastatic prostate cancer.

From its approval in May 2013 to recently being considered as a combination treatment with other drugs, radium-223 dichloride shows great potential in positively impacting treatment for mCRPC, according to Dr. Michael Morris.

Aaron Spitz, MD, talks about the emerging uses of telemedicine in urology. Telemedicine allows medical professionals to remotely diagnose and sometimes even treat patients through a variety of technology, including smartphones and tablet devices.

"We should be doing this, because we understand the disease, we see these patients, and we're not just surgeons, Dr. Adam Kibel said. "We were giving them medications to control their BPH before we diagnosed them with cancer."

With novel treatments such as abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) and enzalutamide (Xtandi) emerging and financial challenges of diminished reimbursement faced by urology practices mounting, urology groups are beginning to offer in-office dispensing to their metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified processed meat as carcinogenic to humans and red meat as probably carcinogenic to humans.

Patients who had prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy lived significantly longer with the addition of hormonal therapy to salvage radiotherapy, long-term follow-up from a randomized trial showed.

Ultra-hypofractionated radiation therapy for low-risk prostate cancer led to significantly lower rates of bowel and urinary dysfunction compared with patients treated with conventional radiotherapy regimens.

Hypofractionated radiotherapy can achieve similar cure rates with similar side effects compared with conventional radiotherapy for men with low-risk, early prostate cancer, according to a recent study.

The FDA has announced clearance for a minimally invasive high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) prostate tissue ablation device called Sonablate 450, making HIFU available in the United States for the first time.

Researchers note that chronic Hedgehog (Hh) pathway stimulation has been shown in prostate, lung, and ovarian cancers, and that zinc levels decrease early in prostate cancer continuing to castration-resistant disease. Researchers are exploring whether or not zinc may suppress the autocatalysis in the Hh precursor and inhibit production of biologically active Hh ligand.

Telesta Therapeutics has been granted an FDA advisory hearing to discuss the biologics license application of its MCNA immunotherapy as treatment for high-risk nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer following first-line bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG).

Tasquinimod demonstrated promise in phase II trials but failed to improve overall survival in a phase III trial in treatment-naive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer; some experts believe this failure highlights the need for more intelligent clinical trial designs in prostate cancer.

Accelerated hypofractionated radiotherapy using a schedule of 60 Gy in 20 fractions of 3 Gy delivered in 4 weeks was found to be comparable to the conventional schedule of 74 Gy/37 of 2 GY delivered in 7.2 weeks in patients with localized prostate cancer taking androgen deprivation therapy.