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When Your PSA Comes Back:

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Biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy: Where do we stand to? | Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases Understanding Biochemical Recurrence After Prostate Surgery IPCSG Educational Newsletter — Research Digest Series June 2026 • Prepared for the Informed Prostate Cancer Support Group Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)   Rising PSA after a radical prostatectomy — called biochemical recurrence, or BCR — affects up to half of all men within a decade of surgery, but it does not mean the cancer has spread or that the situation is hopeless. The standard treatment, salvage radiotherapy directed at the surgical bed, cures many men, especially when given early at low PSA levels. New data confirm that adding hormone therapy, expanding radiation to the pelvis, and in some high-risk cases using next-generation androgen receptor blockers, can all improve outcomes further. PSMA-PET imaging is a powerful new tool, but at the very low PSA levels at which modern salvage trea...
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Behind the White Coat: The Grief Your Oncology Team Carries

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Oncology grief is the price of caring deeply for patients Behind the White Coat: The Grief Your Oncology Team Carries IPCSG Newsletter | Patient & Caregiver Education Series BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front):   The doctors, nurses, and staff who care for you through prostate cancer are not detached technicians — research confirms they absorb real, lasting grief from patient suffering and loss, and a majority report symptoms of burnout, with hematology/oncology consistently ranked among the most affected specialties in national surveys. This grief is not a flaw in your care team; multiple studies now show it is the by-product of the same empathy that makes them effective clinicians. Understanding this can deepen the trust between patients and the people caring for them, and points toward concrete steps — for clinicians, institutions, and patients alike — that support a sustainable, compassionate oncology workforce. Most of us, as patients living with advanced prost...
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Beyond the Ligand-Binding Domain: jamming the "docking site"

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Promising Treatments for Refractory and Resistant Prostate Cancer - Ramesh Narayanan, PhD, MBA - YouTube A Closer Look at the Next Generation of Androgen-Receptor Drugs IPCSG Newsletter | Patient Education & Advocacy | Prepared for the Informed Prostate Cancer Support Group BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front):   A recent "Cancer Patient Lab" webinar featuring Dr. Ramesh Narayanan of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) offered a clear, patient-level tour of why androgen-receptor (AR) drugs eventually stop working — and what researchers are trying to do about it. The featured experimental drug, originally called ONCT-534 and developed by Dr. Narayanan and Professor Duane Miller, targets a part of the AR that current drugs don't touch, which in theory should also disable the AR "splice variants" that drive the most aggressive, treatment-resistant disease. The webinar's tone was upbeat about a "phase one" trial — but it...
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Before and After Surgery: The PROTEUS Trial May Rewrite How We Treat High-Risk Prostate Cancer

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First Look at PROTEUS Results: Dr. Monty Pal on ASCO26 Plenary Research - YouTube A landmark Phase 3 study shows that adding a powerful hormone blocker around the time of surgery dramatically reduces the chance of cancer spreading — and may change a treatment paradigm that has stood for more than a century. IPCSG Newsletter  |  June 2026  |  Prepared for the Informed Prostate Cancer Support Group ▶ Key Takeaways for Patients The PROTEUS trial tested adding apalutamide (Erleada®) plus standard hormone therapy for six months before and six months after radical prostatectomy in men with high-risk or locally advanced prostate cancer. Men receiving apalutamide were nine times more likely to have little or no cancer remaining in the prostate at surgery. The combination reduced the risk of cancer spreading (metastasis) or death by 20% over follow-up. Time before needing any further treatment was extended by more than 33 months compared to hormone therapy a...
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The UK's NHS could do much better - and so could the US

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Interactive Artifact What an Optimised NHS Prostate Cancer Strategy Would Actually Look Like Informed Prostate Cancer Support Group  |  IPCSG Special Report  ·  May 28, 2026 Companion Analysis  ·  Follows: "UK Narrows Prostate Cancer Screening to a Few Thousand Men" (IPCSG, May 28, 2026) Policy Analysis   The UK's new screening programme will reach a few thousand men per year while 55,000 are diagnosed annually. The tools to do far better — polygenic risk scoring, multi-marker blood tests, precision MRI, and consistent active surveillance — already exist, are largely within NICE approvals, and are supported by compelling trial evidence. Here is the architecture of what an evidence-optimised system would build right now.    IPCSG Newsletter Staff   ·  Sources: NEJM, Lancet Oncology, ASCO Post, ICR, Science Media Centre, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Ur...
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