Informed Prostate Cancer Patient Support

New Hope for Aggressive Prostate Cancer: Advances in Understanding and Treating Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer Revolutionary diagnostic tools and promising new therapies offer renewed hope for patients with treatment-resistant disease What Patients Need to Know For most men with prostate cancer, treatments targeting the androgen receptor (AR) pathway—including hormone therapy and newer drugs like enzalutamide and abiraterone—are highly effective. However, as these treatments have become more successful, doctors have observed an important but concerning phenomenon: some cancers develop resistance by essentially changing their identity. This transformation, called neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), represents one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. At the recent 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, Dr. Himisha Beltran from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute presented groundbreaking research that offers new hope for patients facing this challenging ...

Evidence and Rationale for Prostate Cancer Screening: Latest Research and Guidelines Bottom Line Up Front: Current evidence strongly supports PSA-based screening for men aged 55-69, with new research showing promising advances in MRI-targeted biopsies, novel biomarkers, and risk-adapted screening strategies that may significantly reduce overdiagnosis while maintaining mortality benefits. The Foundation: Why Screening Matters PSA-based screening programs in men aged 55 to 69 years may prevent approximately 1.3 deaths from prostate cancer over approximately 13 years per 1000 men screened, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. At a follow-up of 16 years, the number of patients had dropped even further to 18 men needed to be treated to prevent one death from prostate cancer, demonstrating that screening benefits increase significantly with longer follow-up periods. The mortality reduction is even more impressive in some studies. The Swedish part of the ERSPC trial (Göt...

Revolutionary Advances in Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy: The Future is Here TL;DR: New adaptive radiation therapy technologies are dramatically improving treatment precision and reducing side effects for prostate cancer patients through real-time imaging guidance and daily treatment plan adjustments. Precision Medicine Transforms Prostate Cancer Treatment Prostate cancer patients now have access to the most advanced radiation therapy techniques in medical history. Recent research published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology reveals how image-guided adaptive radiation therapy has evolved from basic 2-dimensional planning to sophisticated real-time treatment adjustments that protect healthy tissue while maximizing cancer destruction. What is Adaptive Radiation Therapy? Adaptive radiation therapy represents a quantum leap forward in cancer treatment precision. Unlike traditional radiation therapy that uses fixed treatment plans, adaptive therapy adjusts the radia...

Accessing the Latest Developments in Liquid Biopsies, with Lauren Leiman and Jenn Dickey - YouTube Liquid Biopsies in Prostate Cancer: Progress, Promise, and Patient Advocacy A comprehensive look at the latest developments in blood-based cancer detection and monitoring The Promise of a Simple Blood Test What if detecting prostate cancer recurrence or monitoring treatment response could be as simple as a routine blood draw? This vision is becoming reality through liquid biopsies—blood tests that can detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and other cancer-related biomarkers without the need for invasive tissue biopsies. In a recent discussion hosted by the Cancer Patient Lab, experts from the Blood Profiling Atlas in Cancer (BloodPAC) and industry leaders outlined both the remarkable progress and ongoing challenges in bringing liquid biopsy technology to prostate cancer patients. What Are Liquid Biopsies? As Jennifer Dicki, head of regulatory affairs at LabCorp Oncology, explained du...

The chart illustrates several key concepts: Key Features: Four detection methods : Current PSA testing, enhanced PSA testing, next-generation blood tests (like PSE), and conceptual ultra-early detection (MCED-type) Cancer grades : From low-grade (Gleason 6) to high-grade (Gleason 8-10) cancers Research-based data : PSA detection rates showing 21% sensitivity for any cancer and 51% for high-grade cancers at 4.0 ng/mL cutoff, improving to 32% and 68% respectively at 3.0 ng/mL cutoff Important Insights: Higher grade cancers are more detectable - This follows biological principles as aggressive cancers shed more DNA into the bloodstream Current PSA testing limitations - Particularly poor at detecting low-grade cancers (15% detection rate) Promise of new technologies - Next-generation tests like PSE show 94% accuracy, dramatically improving detection across all grades Ultra-early detection potential - Based on the Johns Hopkins research showing 3+ year early detection capability C...

The Figure 1 graph shows how well patients with high-risk prostate cancer did over time after receiving radiation therapy.  in simple terms: The Two Lines: Blue line (Overall Survival) : Shows the percentage of patients who were still alive at different time points Orange/Yellow line (Metastasis-Free Survival) : Shows the percentage of patients whose cancer hadn't spread to other parts of their body Key Numbers Over Time At 10 years: About 91% of patients were still alive (blue line) About 87% had no cancer spread (orange line) At 15 years: About 71% of patients were still alive (blue line) About 60% had no cancer spread (orange line) What This Means Very Good Long-term Outcomes : Even with high-risk prostate cancer, the vast majority of men (9 out of 10) were still alive at 10 years after treatment. Cancer Control : Most men also kept their cancer from spreading - 87% at 10 years had no metastases (cancer spread). Natural Decline Over Time : As expected with any...