A new formula is developed by the researchers so as to enable medical professionals to predict cancer that will relapse after treatment and also how aggressive it is for the body.

This new study is being supported by Dr David Samadi, one of the best known Urologist and Senior personal at the Popular Mount Sinai Medical Center. Here are more details about this new test for prostate cancer:

World-renowned prostate surgeon, Dr. David Samadi, may soon have the equation he needs to strengthen his approach to personalized medicine and prostate cancer treatment. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine developed a new prostate cancer diagnostic formula to accurately predict the lifecycle of a man’s prostate cancer.

Beyond confirming the presence of prostate cancer, this new test gives unprecedented insight into the cancer’s aggressiveness and the likelihood of relapse after treatment. By conducting genetic analysis of copy number variations (CNV) in the tumor cells, the cells of the surrounding benign tissue, and the blood cells, experts were able to predict the prostate cancer’s path with as much as 81 percent accuracy.

“This may be the magic mix we need to fully understand prostate cancer once it’s diagnosed,” expressed Dr. Samadi. “Being able to unlock the aggressiveness of each unique diagnosis and then tailor surgery and other treatments accordingly will elevate how we eradicate prostate cancer exponentially.”

The prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test and follow-up biopsy receive ongoing scrutiny for their diagnostic limitations. Despite even the government poking holes in these tests, Dr. Samadi remains a steadfast proponent of their effectiveness. “The PSA test and the biopsy are the best prostate cancer indicators we have today,” said Dr. Samadi. “As an expert, my job is to educate men about their disease and offer the most personalized and effective care possible.”

As Vice Chairman, Department of Urology, and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Samadi’s robotic prostate removal surgery is one of the most effective prostate cancer treatment options available. Using his custom SMART (Samadi Modified Advanced Robotic Technique) surgery he has successfully removed over 4,000 cancerous prostates. Read the full extract here.

So, there are lots of expectations that this test will improve personalized Prostate cancer treatment for men. More support should be provided so that this test could be validated. It is important to mention that this new test could bring about less invasive, less rigorous and less painful diagnostic methods. Hence, men can now be saved from that entire trauma.

Finally, Dr.Samadi applies a less invasive approach to remove prostate gland affected by cancer. This new test can be said to be inline with he does to provide better treatments for men.

If you don’t really know who are the primary members of the group, this article is written provide you some useful details. It describes some of the primary members of the medical team that would treat your prostate cancer.

The Urologist – This is a doctor that specializes in the treatment of diseases affecting the urinary system. Since the prostate gland is located near the urinary system in men, cancerous cells on it often affects the passing of urine. The urologist uses his surgical experience to diagnose and treat prostate cancer affecting the urinary system.

In most cases, this medical specialist is invaluable to help deal with advanced prostate cancer. The treatments offered by this specialist will include surgical removal of the prostate gland and prescription endocrine therapy. In some cases, the urologist can refer you to other specialists of particular aspects of cancer of the prostate.

The Oncologist – This is the doctor that specializes in the diagnoses and treatment of tumor in the body. Hence, there is no other that is qualified to treat cancer of the prostate than this specialist. The Oncologist can still specialize in the different treatment aspect radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, radical prostatectomy, and other treatments to stop the growth and spread of malignant tumors or cancerous cells from the prostate gland.

In the course of your treatment for prostate cancer, the oncologist is a primary member of your medical team. You really cannot do any treatment without his involvement.

Apart from the Urologist and Oncologist, other important members of the medical team for the treatment of prostate cancer include: a physical therapist, a dietician, a social worker, and a laboratory scientist. All of these specialists, play important roles to see that you are treated very well of your prostate cancer condition.

Conclusively, it is important that you know members of the team that is helping you to get treated of any stage of prostate cancer. This will help you get relevant information in due course, More so, it is also important that you ensure that all members of the team are working hand in hand to provide you with safe and effective treatment.

Genetic abnormalities are often associated with prostate cancer cells and samples from such cells and normal cells were taken for the study. So far, the result has shown that relapse and aggressive prostate cancer can be predicted to some degree. Various blood samples and tissues were used in the study as highlighted below:

A blood test for men with prostate cancer could indicate whether their cancer is likely to recur after treatment, and if so, how aggressively, say researchers from the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine, USA.

A study to investigate whether prostate cancer relapse can be predicted by looking at genetic abnormities using tissue samples from tumours as well as from neighbouring tissues and blood samples had promising results. It could mean that less invasive tests could be used after a patient’s initial treatment to see if further treatment is needed. Patients could be spared further aggressive treatments if their cancer is found to be slow-growing and therefore unlikely to cause death.

Dr Jianhua Luo and his colleagues analysed the genomes of 104 prostate tumour samples, 85 blood samples and 49 samples of benign prostate tissue adjacent to tumours to identify copy number variations (CNVs). A CNV represents an abnormal number of copies of one or more sections of DNA. Samples from all three tissue/blood groups showed CNVs, some with similar deletion and amplification patterns. Using this data, the researchers were able to build a prediction model to identify patients at risk of relapse.

The researchers found that CNVs from prostate tumour tissue could predict the chance of relapse with significant accuracy, at 73 percent. Similarly, CNVs from these tissues could predict cancer aggression with 75 percent accuracy – although as the study was conducted in patients who had already undergone the removal of all or part of the prostate, the test did not identify benign tumours from aggressive ones before treatment.

Blood samples also had high predictive accuracy – at 81 percent for relapse and 69 percent for aggression; as did neighbouring benign prostate tissue samples – at 67 percent for relapse and 77 percent for aggression.

‘For a patient already having a radical prostatectomy, CNV analysis on the tumour or blood sample may help to decide whether additional treatment is warranted to prevent relapse. Despite some limitations, including the need for high quality genome DNA, CNV analysis on the genome of blood, normal prostate, or tumour tissues holds promise to become a more efficient and accurate way to predict the behaviour of prostate cancer’, said Dr Luo.

Reporting on the study, the Daily Mail said a blood test is likely to be several years away. The results of the study will need to be validated with further research and an inexpensive blood test developed before such a test could reach the market. Source.

So, with the information highlight above, it may become possible that men who have been subjected to various forms of tests for prostate cancer would now opt for a better option. They may now go for the DNA test, which would be less invasive. In addition, if the result of this study is validated, men with prostate cancer should now expect easy diagnosis and faster treatment of their condition.

Finally, this blood test can still be less expensive, thereby helping patients to save their lives and at the same time save their money. The authorities concerned should look into this study to see if quicker validation can be made since it shows lots of promises to victims and health care providers.

To address this problem, MDxHealth, a molecular diagnostic company has launched a new test known as ConfirmMDx(TM). This is a breakthrough test that can help urologists to carry out    accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer.

This new test and its launch is a result of many years of extensive research and development by the company as confirmed by the Chief Scientific Officer of MDxHealth. Here are more details on this new novel prostate cancer test:

MDxHealth SA (nyse euronext:MDXH), a leading molecular diagnostic company that develops and commercializes epigenetic tests to support cancer treatment, today announced the launch of ConfirmMDx(TM) for Prostate Cancer, a novel test that helps urologists distinguish patients who have a true-negative prostate biopsy from those who may have occult cancer. Testing will be performed in MDxHealth’s state-of-the-art Irvine-based CLIA laboratory for physicians submitting prostate tissue samples directly or via its exclusive co-marketing partner PLUS Diagnostics.

“As many as one in four men could be misdiagnosed due to limitations with current prostate biopsy procedures, commonly described as ‘sampling error’. As a consequence, the standard of care for men with persistently high-risk factors, but no evidence of prostate cancer in a biopsy, is limited to continued surveillance and repeat biopsies, often on prostate-cancer-free men. The ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer test detects epigenetic changes associated with the presence or absence of prostate cancer,” explained Prof Dr. Wim van Crienkinge, Chief Scientific Officer of MDxHealth.

“The launch of ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer represents the culmination of extensive research and development efforts and demonstrates the commitment of the MDxHealth team to deliver on its new commercial strategy,” said Dr. Jan Groen, CEO of MDxHealth. MDxHealth is uniquely positioned with its portfolio of epigenetic assays to capitalize on the realization of true personalized medicine, improving patient care, while reducing healthcare costs.”

About ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer

Over 650,000 American men receive a negative prostate biopsy result each year; however approximately 25-35% of these results are false negative. Under the current standard of care, prostate biopsy procedures collect 10-12 needle biopsy cores on average, effectively sampling less than 1% of a man’s prostate. This approach leaves men at risk of occult cancer, leading to a high rate of repeat biopsies, often on prostate-cancer-free men. There is an unmet medical need for a clinically effective diagnostic test to address this dilemma. ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer is an epigenetic assay to help distinguish patients who have a true-negative biopsy from those at risk for occult cancer. The test helps urologists rule out prostate cancer-free men from undergoing unnecessary repeat biopsies and, helps rule in high risk patients who may require repeat biopsies and potential treatment. The test is able to detect an epigenetic field effect or “halo” associated with the cancerization process at the DNA level in cells adjacent to cancer foci. This molecular “halo” around a cancer lesion can be present despite having a normal appearance under the microscope. Thus ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer aids urologists in identifying men who may forego unnecessary repeat biopsies. Click here to read the full article.

With this launch by MDxHealth, it is indeed good news for prostate cancer victims and urologists. The stress and pains of having to undergo repeated biopsies that are often painful are avoided. The company is renowned for the manufacture of advanced epigenetic tests for cancer assessement, it is hoped that this new test will really in transforming cancer diagnoses in men. In addition, we expect that men will not have above average diagnosis and care for their prostate cancer.

So, health care providers should look into this new novel test and see it can now be prescribed as a standard diagnostic tool to complement other known tools.

1 – What is prostate cancer? – The doctor should be able to give you and overview of this condition. Why it occurs, when it occurs, and who is likely to be affected? Etc. In summary, the doctor will give you an overview picture of this type of cancer originates from the gland and affects the life of the person.

2 – How reliable are the tests for prostate cancer?  – Here the physician should tell you about the various tests that are conducted to diagnose cancer of the prostate. These diagnostic methods include the PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test, Digital Rectal Examination (DRE), and tissue Biopsy. The reliability of each of these tests should be explained to you.

3 – What stage is the cancer that has been diagnosed in your prostate? – With this question, the doctor can explain to you the various stages of prostate cancer. He should be able to provide you with the prognosis of what that stage entails for you in the nearest future.

4 – What are the possible treatments for my prostate cancer? – The treatment of prostate cancer takes many forms, and depends on the age of the person, the stage of the cancer, and some other factors. Explanations of the possible options and the side effects should be provided.

5 -  What would be  the cost of undergoing any particular treatment, in terms of finance, side effects and long term consequences?- The doctor should also be able to provide you with quick details on the cost implications for undergoing various treatments such as radical prostatectomy, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, Cryotherapy, hormonal therapy, and some other types of treatments.

There could be many other questions you may want to ask the doctor concerning prostate cancer. The above questions can, at least, give you idea of how to start off. In the course of explanations, you would be prompted to ask the doctor to give you more explanations on certain issues. So, be ready to ask more questions and get treated of prostate cancer.

Abiraterone is a drug which has shown to extend the life of those treated with advanced prostate cancer was declared too expensive for the National health system by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). This body is considering its initial stand as details on this fact are provided in the following paragraphs.

Abiraterone, which costs £3,000 for a month’s treatment, was at first judged too expensive by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice).

But following a campaign by charities – and a rare intervention by the Department of Health – the body is poised to announced later this week that the drug will be approved, it was reported.

It will be the first specific treatment for the disease – that strikes 40,000 British men each year – approved for use on the NHS for more than a decade.

Abiraterone is one of two new drugs which have been shown to prolong survival when other treatments have failed with the other, cabazitaxel, denied to NHS patients in a Nice ruling last week.

Tests show men taking abiraterone and a steroid survived for nearly 15 months, while those given steroid treatment and a ‘dummy’ pill lived 11 months on average.

But some receiving the treatment survived much longer than expected, including Britons who have lived for almost five years with advanced disease.

The pill, which is taken four times a day, also eases pain and improves quality of life.

Nice issued draft guidance in February not to approve the treatment, despite complaints that it had not used the correct criteria to assess it.

But days later Simon Reeve, a Department of Health official, wrote to the body asking that it should “carefully consider” if abiraterone met the more lenient ‘end of life’ criteria.

This measure, which is supposed to give weight to the value of a few extra months for terminally ill patients, has now been used by Nice leading it to reverse its decision, according to the Daily Mail.

Around 3,300 men with advanced prostate cancer that has become resistant to standard hormone treatments could benefit from abiraterone each year.

The drug, made by Janssen, was developed by UK scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research and trials were partly funded by UK charities.

Owen Sharp of the Prostate Cancer Charity campaign said MPs and patients had been appalled by the initial decision to ban it for NHS use when it was available in other EU countries.

He told the Mail: “It was the wrong decision. This breakthrough drug will make a real difference to men with prostate cancer at the end of their life who have no alternative – this is the only hope they have.” Source.

This is good news for thousands of men living in Britain with advanced prostate cancer. Many of them are going to benefit from the potency of this drug. As indicated in the above excerpt, those with advanced prostate cancer and have hormone resistant cancer can benefit from this drug.

Its good for health care that NICE is reversing its earlier decision. I still recommend that more efforts should be applied to reduce the cost of this drug further. This will help many more men in the UK and other parts of the world to get treated effectively of their advanced prostate condition.

There have been controversies in the medical field about the overall effects of Proton Beam Therapy compared to the use of standard radiation treatments. The former treatment is also a very expensive one and many still wonders if undergoing this therapy is really worth the costs, efforts, and time for it. All these questions are expected to be answered after the conclusion of the five-year massive research.

An online excerpt to the above topic provides you more details are highlighted below:

Massachusetts General Hospital in the next few weeks will launch a large, long-awaited test of whether a controversial cutting-edge proton beam therapy is more effective than standard radiation treatment for prostate cancer.

Proton beam therapy, a targeted and controlled way to administer radiation to a tumor, has become a flashpoint in the debate over health care reform.

The expensive therapy is being used across the country and in some cases advertised directly to the general public before it has been deemed superior to standard radiation treatment, which costs about half as much. For years, doctors and federal health agencies have called for a scientific study like the one led by Mass. General, which will enroll its first patients by early June.

The five-year study will take place at a half-dozen centers across the country, including the University of Pennsylvania.

During that span, the number of therapy facilities, each of which can cost as much as $200 million to build, is projected to at least double across the country.

“Is the additional cost for proton beam therapy worth it?’’ said Dr. Jason Efstathiou, an assistant professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School and Mass. General. “Ultimately, we need to figure out if these new emerging high-technology therapies being introduced into medical care provide a benefit. . . . This trial will determine whether or not the more expensive therapy leads to a better quality of life.’’

Proton therapy has theoretical advantages: It allows doctors to precisely target radiation to reach a certain depth in the body, which can reduce exposure and possibly mitigate side effects. But there is little consensus on whether that translates to better care, except in a handful of rare cancers – including pediatric cancers of the brain and nervous system or cancers in delicate areas such as the eye.

“By exposing less normal tissue to radiation, you will ultimately cause fewer secondary malignancies; that’s one of the serious, devastating late effects of radiation in children,’’ said Dr. Karen Marcus, a pediatric radiation oncologist at the Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center.

But thus far, studies of proton therapy in prostate cancer – far more common than those rare cancers – have had limitations and provided mixed results. And it costs significantly more: around $48,000, or double that of standard radiation therapy, according to a 2008 report from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review.

The American Society for Radiation Oncology’s emerging technology committee published a review earlier this year that said proton beam therapy was effective in treating prostate cancer, but found no evidence it was better than standard radiation therapy. Click here to read the full excerpt.

The above details on the research work to be conducted by the Massachusetts General Hospital are sure to bring results that would truly be useful in prostate cancer treatments. This clinical trial is going to be expensive but it is expected to yield better results after the next five years.

Finally, the application of Proton Beam Therapy and standard radiation treatment on prostate cancer victims are most often recommended. We are going to wait for the result of the study to know which of these two actually offer the best health care for patients. Good Luck in advance to the researcher at MGH!

Staging or grading for this type of cancer that affects only men is carried out through a system known as the Gleason Grading System. Through this system, various different patterns of the cancer cells taken after biopsy are investigated and scores are provided for each group.

That being said, there are about four stages of prostate cancer. Each of these stages has its peculiar features, and there are effective treatments suitable for each stage. The four stages of prostate cancer that can be diagnosed in a man are: Stage I, Stage II, Stage III, and Stage IV.

These stages determine treatments as they already embody the size, location, spread and aggressiveness of the cancer. what each stage looks like and the common treatments doctors prescribe for victims are described in the following paragraphs.

Treating Stage I Prostate Cancer – When cancer cells form in the prostate gland at this stage, the cells may still appear like normal prostate cells. The cancers are slow growing and most often do not show any significant symptoms that can be used to recognize it. Since cancerous cells in this stage are still localized and less aggressive, the following treatments can be applied to get rid of them completely: Radiation therapy, radical prostatectomy, and watchful waiting.

Treating Stage II Prostate Cancer – This stage would still have the cancers localized (that is, still forming within prostate cells). However, there could be slight change in their patterns or structure and certain symptoms may start to affect the person. Likewise, if treatments had already been applied on stage I cells and some affected cells still survive, then these are considered stage II. Similar treatment options as in stage I can still be applied to treat stage II but more precisely: Radical prostatectomy( to remove the prostate gland and pelvic lymph nodes), Brachytherapy and external beam radiation, Cryosurgery, or a combination of these treatments can work to deal with this stage of prostate cancer.

Treating Stage III Prostate Cancer – This stage indicates that the cancer could have spread beyond the prostate gland. In spite of this, organs like the lymph nodes, bladder, rectum, and other distant organs are not yet affected. The possible treatments for this stage may include: Radiation and surgery could be considered (since they may not be effective at this stage), Hormone therapy, watchful waiting (for older with no serious symptoms), radical prostatectomy in some areas, or a combination of radiation treatments and hormone therapy.

Treating Stage IV Prostate Cancer – This is the most dangerous stage of prostate cancer because major vital organs in the body are now affected by the cancer. The Lymph nodes, rectum, bladder, bones, and other distant organs are affected. The chances of this stage to get cured are very slim. However, the following treatments can be applied to relieve the symptoms: Hormone therapy, Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP), External beam radiation in combination of hormone therapy in certain areas, and chemotherapy.

Finally, understanding the stages of prostate cancer and the treatments for each would go a long way to help you get the best treatments. However, you need to know that some factors like age, risk or recurrence, life expectancy, can affect the choice of treatments the doctor may prescribe.

Various procedures were used in arriving in the conclusion, and more studies are conducted in research. Biopsy, measuring of the CNV (copy number variation), and analyses of about 238 genome samples were used. The measurements, analsis, and trials carried out in the process are described in the following paragraphs:

The findings, published online in The American Journal of Pathology, show that the test also can indicate how aggressive or mild the relapse will be.

Currently, prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, blood levels are tested to monitor the status of prostate tumors, said senior investigator Jian-Hua Luo, associate professor in the department of pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

But measuring copy number variation (CNV), which is the deletion or increased redundancy of areas of DNA within chromosomes, in the tumor, neighboring tissues, or blood better reflects the state of the cancer.

“Our method will allow us to determine at the time of, or after biopsy or prostate removal, whether the cancer is likely to come back and, if so, how aggressively,” he says. “It promises to more accurately predict the progression of the disease.”

For the study, the researchers analyzed the genomes of 238 samples obtained from men whose prostate glands were surgically removed; 104 prostate tumor samples; 85 blood samples from prostate cancer patients, and 49 samples of disease-free prostate tissues neighboring the tumors.

A third of the samples were from patients whose cancer had recurred and whose PSA level had doubled in less than four months, which is associated with lethal prostate cancer. A third of the samples came from patients with disease recurrence with a slowly increasing PSA level that doubled in more than 15 months, and a third with no relapse more than five years after surgery. The researchers also examined an additional 25 samples from prostate cancer patients to validate their findings.

They found that deletion and increased redundancy of DNA occurred in all chromosomes in prostate cancer samples. Some of these changes occurred with high frequency. Deletion and increased redundancy of DNA also occurred in benign neighboring tissue and blood samples of the cancer patients.

Gene-specific tumor CNV could correctly predict 73 percent of cases that had relapsed and 75 percent of cases in which PSA levels rapidly doubled. The CNV model from disease-free neighboring tissue correctly predicted 67 percent of cases for relapse and 77 percent of cases for short PSA doubling time. A specific tumor CNV from blood could correctly predict 81 percent of relapse cases and 69 percent of the cases for short PSA doubling time.

The consistency of the associations across specimen types suggest that CNV analysis could reliably indicate what the likelihood of recurrence is either at the time of biopsy of a suspicious mass, when the tumor is removed, or in post-treatment blood monitoring, and could help doctors decide early in the disease process whether an individual’s cancer warrants additional therapy, says Luo.

Additional researchers from the University of Pittsburgh co-authored the study, which was funded by the National Cancer Institute and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Source.

So,this could be another breakthrough in prostate cancer research. If this research is validated, then it becomes possible to predict the course which prostate cancer is going to take. And this will provide direction for the right treatment.

The most significant area in which this treatment is going to be of benefit for people is in the area of early diagnosis of this early diagnosis. If the test helps to detect cancer early, then the chances of extending the life of individuals would be increased.

 Prostate cancer is affecting 1 in every 6 men in the United States. Most of these are on the verge of death because their condition has become precarious and scary. However, with improvements in medical researches and diagnostic methods, the survival rates of most people with advanced or metastatic prostate cancer has been extended. So, if the right measures are taken on time, millions of men affected by this scourge could have relieve from their condition.

That being said, information gathering and support about prostate cancer can go a long way to help those living with cancer of the prostate. There are organizations out there, especially if you are in the United States that can help you with information, funding, and other support when it comes to dealing with cancer of the prostate. These are often known as resource centers. Some network with victims, family members, and medical personnel to support those affected. You need to take advantage of what these organizations have to offer to deal with this cancer.

Here is a quick list of prostate cancer resource centers you may want to checkout:

• National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• American Urological Association Foundation
• American Prostate Society
• National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse
• National Prostate Cancer Coalition
• Prostate Cancer Foundation
• American Bone Marrow Donor Registry
• American Cancer Society
• Patient Advocates for Advanced (Prostate) Cancer Treatment (PAACT)
• Association of Oncology Social Work
• The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship
• People Living With Cancer
• New York Online Access to Health (NOAH)
• National Marrow Donor Program
• FDA’s Cancer Liaison Program

There are still other centers and organizations that can help you with information about prostate cancer. Google the website of each of the centers listed above for more details.

Finally, prostate cancer resources are another way of getting help to deal with that malignant tumor that has originated from the prostate gland. The information you source from any of the list above should not, in any, take the place of advice from your doctor, oncologist, urologist, or health care provider.