Prostate Cancer

Almost all surgery is by Robotic Surgery nowadays! Robotic Prostate Surgery Provides More Advantages A recent addition to prostate cancer treatment is robotic prostate surgery. The procedure has the same advantages associated with laparoscopic prostate surgeryno incision, minimum blood loss, fast recovery, and minimal catheter usebut the new technology uses robotic instrumentation and two cameras for better visualization. Using two cameras enables us to ascertain a three-di...mensional view of the anatomy with greater magnification. And unlike laparoscopic prostate surgery, the robotic instrumentation provides surgeons with a full range of motion, and is associated with significantly less blood loss during prostate cancer treatment. For this reason, robotic assisted prostate surgery is sometimes called bloodless prostate cancer treatment. In addition, sexual dysfunction and incontinence risks are reduced with this prostate surgery because the surgeon has a clear view of the anatomy and can more accurately navigate around the nerves and structures responsible for these problems. See more

Please investigate all of your options before making a decision. Go to the internet and check out all the options. Don't just accept your doctor's recommendations without further study. Each doctor has his own agenda, which may not be what will benefit you best. As you know there are many ways to treat prostate cancer; surgery, radiation therapy, brachytherapy (seeds), as well as Cryotherapy (freezing the prostate). Each for of treatment is designed to attempt to cure prostat...e cancer that is still 'confined to the prostate' and has not spread elsewhere. The decision as to which treatment type is best for you depends on many factors such as your personal overall health and overall life expectancy as well as the level of PSA, the digital exam findings, the gleasons score (which in my case was a favorable factor), the number of positive cores from you biopsy, and lastly your overall willingness to accept certain side effects from each of the different treatments. In general, I feel that surgery to completely remove the prostate is the best form of treatment and offers the best chance for cure. Nowadays, almost everyone prefers the da Vinci robotic surgery mainly because it is associated with less pain, shorter hospital stay, quicker time to recovery and less blood loss with less chance for needing a transfusion. I hope this helps.

March is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

For many of you supporting PSA screening, this is the latest publication from the ERSPC project. Conclusion: 11 years of follow-up supports PSA-based screening significantly reduced mortality from prostate cancer but did not affect all-cause mortality. This is an important study published in a reference journal for the scientific community. Unfortunately, I can only give you the link for the abstract. Full access (not free) can be achieved at http://www.nejm.org/

The first 2012 issue of the journal Histopathology is completely dedicated to prostate cancer, with 15 review articles by leading experts in prostate cancer. The journal has not full-text free access, but it can be reached through the following link for those who can read the journal in hospitals, medical and university libraries: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com//his.2011.60.issue/issuetoc

For those that like a good steak every so often.....Use Beer to marinate. A Portuguese study found that marinating steak in beer eliminates almost 70 percent of the carcinogens, called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) produced when the meat is pan-fried. Researchers theorize that beer’s sugars help block HCAs from forming. Scientists also have found that beer and wine contain about the same levels of antioxidants, but the antioxidants are different because the flavonoids found in hops and grapes are different.

Thursday Sept 8, Man to Man Prostate Cancer meeting with guest speaker Greg Angelovic. Topic Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Advanced Prostate Cancer. 6:30 pm at 2900 Loma Vista Road, Suit 105, Ventura, CA

Join us at St. Johns Hospital at 10am Speaker: Kevin Q. Chang, M.D. - Hematology-Oncology Topic: Treatment Options in Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is real, and all men -- of all ages and ethnic groups -- need to know about it.

A growing number of men with prostate cancer are choosing a form of internal radiation therapy known as brachytherapy.