Just saw that news that Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
He was one of the "outlaws" in the movie Easy Rider and went on to become a director and actor in scores of movies.
His manager said 73-year-old Hopper was being treated through a "special program" at the University of Southern California. I'm sure we'd like to know what that "special program" is.
Meanwhile, it was announced in the past couple of weeks that composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, 61, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer as well.
The composer of Phantom of the Opera and other musicals also is currently undergoing treatment, although there's been no word on what treatment he chose either.
I'm sorry to hear about these men falling victim to cancer, but maybe it will help raise awareness of the disease among men.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Prostate cancer screening advantage "overstated"
The chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society might have dropped a bomb when he told the New York Times in a story ("Cancer Society, in shift, has concerns on screening") on Wednesday:
That's not great comfort to all of use who carefully watched PSA tests and took action when the levels started to rise.
Dr. Otis Brawley was responding to a report that the American Cancer Society is working on a message that screening for prostate, breast and other cancers can result it overtreating small cancers while missing other cancers that are deadly.
Clarifying his statement later regarding prostate cancer, Brawley said:
ABC News sought out Dr. William Catalona, director of the Clinical Prostate Cancer Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, for his reaction:
"We don’t want people to panic. But I’m admitting that American medicine has overpromised when it comes to screening. The advantages to screening have been exaggerated.”
That's not great comfort to all of use who carefully watched PSA tests and took action when the levels started to rise.
Dr. Otis Brawley was responding to a report that the American Cancer Society is working on a message that screening for prostate, breast and other cancers can result it overtreating small cancers while missing other cancers that are deadly.
Clarifying his statement later regarding prostate cancer, Brawley said:
"Since 1997 the American Cancer Society has recommended that men talk to their doctor and make an informed decision about whether or not prostate cancer early detection testing is right for them. This recommendation also still stands."
ABC News sought out Dr. William Catalona, director of the Clinical Prostate Cancer Program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, for his reaction:
"In the U.S. there has been an 85 percent decrease in the percentage of prostate cancer cases that present with advanced-stage disease and a 40 percent reduction in the age-specific prostate cancer mortality rate during the PSA screening era... I continue to recommend PSA screening to my patients."
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Public kept in dark about best cancer centers
Newsweek magazine makes a case for more transparency in cancer treatment won-loss scorecards among doctors and hospitals.
The article, "What You Don't Know Might Kill You," says there can be a wide disparity in success of treatments of cancer, for instance, depending on where the patient goes.
The Newsweek investigation found wide differences between the results of top cancer centers and community settings (local hospitals and private practice oncologists) where 90 percent of cancer patients are treated.
But good luck finding out the track records for particular cancers at various cancer treatment centers. They usually don't release this data. So if you want to find the best cancer center for treatment of prostate cancer, you can't find out.
In fact, according to Newsweek,
The article, "What You Don't Know Might Kill You," says there can be a wide disparity in success of treatments of cancer, for instance, depending on where the patient goes.
" ... at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, to pick one top site, the five-year survival rate for patients with stage II prostate cancer is 93 percent, compared with 88 percent nationwide."A 5 percent difference doesn't sound like much, unless you are one of the 5 percent.
The Newsweek investigation found wide differences between the results of top cancer centers and community settings (local hospitals and private practice oncologists) where 90 percent of cancer patients are treated.
"Five years after surgery for prostate cancer, for instance, 72 percent of men treated at leading hospitals are alive, compared with 62 percent of those treated elsewhere. Scrutinizing data from specific cancer centers reveals even greater gaps. Five-year survival for stage IV prostate cancer is 71 percent at Fox Chase, for instance, but 38 percent nationally."Often the issue isn't which hospital has the best machines, it's which hospitals have the best doctors. Those are usually found at the major cancer centers.
But good luck finding out the track records for particular cancers at various cancer treatment centers. They usually don't release this data. So if you want to find the best cancer center for treatment of prostate cancer, you can't find out.
In fact, according to Newsweek,
"And although the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) of the nation's 21 top cancer hospitals collects data on how well its members adhere to treatment guidelines, it will not release the information on specific centers."
Friday, October 16, 2009
Ask for surgeons' track record with ED and incontinence
Media blogger Jeff Jarvis has written a detailed and insightful piece about the aftermath of his prostatectomy -- "Small c: the penis post."
Warning readers that this might qualify as too much information, Jarvis goes into some of the specifics of incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
Those are two big problems for men who undergo prostate surgery or radiation treatments. It seems we're so intent of getting rid of this cancer -- be it slow or fast growing -- that we don't worry about the side-effects until after we start to heal and things ain't what they used to be.
Everything I read leading up to my surgery suggested that patients should find out the doctor's success rate at curing the cancer. In a recent report on minimally invasive surgery, a researcher suggested that patients who choose the da Vinci robotic method ask the surgeon how many he's performed. Apparently the success rate improves with "hands-on" experience.
While those are good ideas, something else patients should ask is the surgeon's success rate regarding incontinence and erectile dysfunction following the operation.
Based on experiences of men in a prostate support group I joined, too few surgeons pay much attention to those statistics for their patients.
They should. Removing the cancer is only half the battle. Ensuring the prostate cancer survivors can live full lives is an important part of the cancer cure.
If your surgeon doesn't seem to know how his patients fared with incontinence and ED after the surgery, it's time to start looking for a new surgeon.
Warning readers that this might qualify as too much information, Jarvis goes into some of the specifics of incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
Those are two big problems for men who undergo prostate surgery or radiation treatments. It seems we're so intent of getting rid of this cancer -- be it slow or fast growing -- that we don't worry about the side-effects until after we start to heal and things ain't what they used to be.
Everything I read leading up to my surgery suggested that patients should find out the doctor's success rate at curing the cancer. In a recent report on minimally invasive surgery, a researcher suggested that patients who choose the da Vinci robotic method ask the surgeon how many he's performed. Apparently the success rate improves with "hands-on" experience.
While those are good ideas, something else patients should ask is the surgeon's success rate regarding incontinence and erectile dysfunction following the operation.
Based on experiences of men in a prostate support group I joined, too few surgeons pay much attention to those statistics for their patients.
They should. Removing the cancer is only half the battle. Ensuring the prostate cancer survivors can live full lives is an important part of the cancer cure.
If your surgeon doesn't seem to know how his patients fared with incontinence and ED after the surgery, it's time to start looking for a new surgeon.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
More confusion about prostate cancer treatments
A new study raises more questions than it answers about the serious, long-term after-effects of surgery for prostate cancer.
The study finds that men who undergo the less invasive, laparoscopic surgery tend to have a greater chance of impotence and incontinence than those who have surgery by traditional methods.
Published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the prostate surgery report finds that men who choose minimally invasive surgery had a lower rate of blood transfusions and internal scarring, as well as shorter hospital stays.
After 18 months, however, the men who had minimally invasive surgeries reported a high incidence of incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
The minimally invasive surgery includes, but is not limited to, the da Vinci robotic system that is gaining widespread support. Other types of laparoscopic surgery is performed by hand.
It's unfortunate that the researchers lumped all types of minimally invasive surgery together in the report, rendering it totally useless for anyone trying to make an informed decision about what route to take for cancer treatment.
Many doctors tout the da Vinci system as superior to other forms of hands-on laprascopic surgery; this study does nothing to prove or disprove that.
The study by Dr. Jim Hu of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston also did not take into account the several forms of radiation or hormone therapies that are used in cancer treatments.
According to the AP, Hu analyzed the Medicare data for nearly 9,000 prostate cancer patients who had surgical treatment from 2003-07. Of those, 1,938 patients had minimally invasive surgery and 6,899 patients had standard surgery. Note that since these were Medicare cases, the age of the men involved was probably older than the average age of men who undergo prostatectomies.
Among the results, diagnoses of incontinence was 15.9 (minimally invasive) vs. 12.2 (standard) per 100 person years and erectile dysfunction was 26.8 (minimally invasive) vs. 19.2 (standard) per 100 person years. (The rate of "100 person years" is primarily for comparison. It's the rate for 100 people for 1 year, or 1 person for 100 years, or however else you want to divide it.)
Said Hu:
Unfortunately, this study itself doesn't dig deep enough.
The study finds that men who undergo the less invasive, laparoscopic surgery tend to have a greater chance of impotence and incontinence than those who have surgery by traditional methods.
Published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the prostate surgery report finds that men who choose minimally invasive surgery had a lower rate of blood transfusions and internal scarring, as well as shorter hospital stays.
After 18 months, however, the men who had minimally invasive surgeries reported a high incidence of incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
The minimally invasive surgery includes, but is not limited to, the da Vinci robotic system that is gaining widespread support. Other types of laparoscopic surgery is performed by hand.
It's unfortunate that the researchers lumped all types of minimally invasive surgery together in the report, rendering it totally useless for anyone trying to make an informed decision about what route to take for cancer treatment.
Many doctors tout the da Vinci system as superior to other forms of hands-on laprascopic surgery; this study does nothing to prove or disprove that.
The study by Dr. Jim Hu of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston also did not take into account the several forms of radiation or hormone therapies that are used in cancer treatments.
According to the AP, Hu analyzed the Medicare data for nearly 9,000 prostate cancer patients who had surgical treatment from 2003-07. Of those, 1,938 patients had minimally invasive surgery and 6,899 patients had standard surgery. Note that since these were Medicare cases, the age of the men involved was probably older than the average age of men who undergo prostatectomies.
Among the results, diagnoses of incontinence was 15.9 (minimally invasive) vs. 12.2 (standard) per 100 person years and erectile dysfunction was 26.8 (minimally invasive) vs. 19.2 (standard) per 100 person years. (The rate of "100 person years" is primarily for comparison. It's the rate for 100 people for 1 year, or 1 person for 100 years, or however else you want to divide it.)
Said Hu:
"The take-home message for men is they need to dig deeper than simply the message they might be getting from planted stories from device manufacturers or radio ads or billboards."
Unfortunately, this study itself doesn't dig deep enough.
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