Remember you are and important part of our support group. USTOO

Texoma needs you!
See you at our next meeting.  

Dr. Jerry Bylander, Managing Director, USToo! Texoma

By the way, if you haven't been to our web page lately, check it out at www.ustoo-texoma.org . 

None.

New Business

Henri Puckett, the Program Chair, announced the May program to be sponsored by TMC.

Program:  Hormonal therapy; a treatment for prostate cancer

Speaker: R.B. McGowan

Program: R.B., who has done extensive research on hormone therapy , described the learn options he has explored for treatment.

The meeting adjourned about 9 PM. 

Henry Puckett, Program Chair/by the Editor

New Genetic Marker for CaP
PC SPES is Gone
Seeds Explained
Book Review: His Prostate and Me
Mayo Clinic has a service to help early stage men decide a best treatment
WFree PSA may double PSA Accuracy
Diet again

  New Genetic Marker for CaP

Scientific American

Copied from Fierce Wireless

"Researchers at the University of Michigan have a gene that's overexpressed in prostate cancer tissue that could help point a way to better a prostate cancer screening test."

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PC Spes, a last-resort drug is discontinued

from the Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, May 21, 2001, p. D4 and Prostate Cancer Hot Sheet, March, 2002, p. 1

The California Department of Health thinks they have found warfarin in PC SPES. The substance thought to be warfarin, which is available by prescription alone, may be instead phytocoumarin which is naturally synthesized in green plants.  As a result the manufacturer has recalled the product.  The WSJ reports the manufacturer is going out of business "leaving most of the 10,000 men with little alternative except chemotherapy to keep them alive."  As many of you may recall, two of our recent speakers tell us that chemotherapy only serves to reduce pain and doesn't affect the outcome of CaP.  In fact they tell us that with this end stage cancer, life expectancy is only 6 months to a year and a half.  The WSJ reports that 7500 of the men taking PC SPES have this end stage cancer, and are hormone refractory (Lupron and Casodex don't work) and PC SPES has held down PSA for many years"...with minimal side effects" of reduced libido, etc.

The shame of this is that the men benefiting who will live less than 1.5 years without the PC SPES can't possibly be harmed any further than this painful cancer is by a blood thinner (you probably know that aspirin and ibuprofen are blood thinners which are over-the-counter drugs).  In your editors opinion, this result is just one more example of our dysfunctional medical and pharmacological system.

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Seeds Explained
Dr. Thomas Shanahan of the Memorial Medical Center Springfield, IL has summarized information about prostate seed brachytherapy.  He reminds us that brachy means "short".  Brachytherapy consists of one or a combination of radiation (high energy X-rays) techniques which kill cells by disrupting their functioning.  Your editor notes that of course radiation can also cause cancer, but the main form, leukemia, only occurs after 20 some years if ever.  The difference between the various forms of placing seeds permanently in the prostate or temporarily placing seeds around the organ and external radiation beam is that, in the former case, the radiation is sharply confined to the organ.  Dr. Shanahan continues by explaining that the adjacent structures such as the bladder and rectum are largely spared (the delivery of killing energy via particles such as protons or neutrons are quite limited in location and patient space - Ed.).  Seed implantation therapy was first used in 1911 by means of radium seeds (my uncle had gold seeds implanted in 1964 and died last year at the age of 90 - Ed.).  Iodine (I ¹²⁵) was also used in the 50's and 60's by means of an opening in the lower abdomen.  Ultrasound and three-dimensional software, along with fast computers, led to improved methods.

The methods include combining external beam and hormone treatments with the seeds.  Also a drilled template, based on a 3-D rendering of the gland, may be used.  Radio iodine or palladium have been used as seeds.  They are coated with titanium and are about as wide as a straight pin.  Sixty to 130 seeds are used.  They decay to low levels within a year.  Usually seeds are used without external beam for Gleason scores below 6 (T1c or T2a).  If the patient is deemed to be at high risk androgen (hormone) therapy will be continued for up to 6 months after the treatment.  Also Gleason scores above 7 and PSA above 15 will require a boost implant followed by 5 weeks of radiation therapy.  Potency will remain for more than 50% of patients depending on age; Viagra may also help.

Apparently treatments for recurrence after seeds is largely by trial and error at this point.

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Book Review: "His Prostate and Me"
From The Prostate Cancer Hot Sheet, May 2002, p. 7.

"His Prostate and Me" addresses from a woman's point of view the prime issue that obstructs men from seeking treatment for prostate cancer: will I or won't I be able to function sexually for the rest of my life?  Desiree Howe met and married husband Dick Howe after his prostate cancer surgery, answers that question with a resounding yes as she offers a frank and information-rich examination of her husband's and her experience with this "dangerous" disease.  The keystone of the gook is Dick Howe's story, from diagnosis all the way through successful treatment for post-surgical side effects, including erectile dysfunction...Patients, survivor groups and physicians alike will benefit from reading the Howe's story....Every wife, partner or loved one of a man diagnosed with prostate cancer will derive tremendous insight and guidance from the Howes' story. Windalye Publishing, paperback (April 2002), $16.00. Amazon: $16.80 + S&H.

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Mayo Clinic has a service to help early stage men decide on a best treatment

MAScribe Newswire - April 13, 2002
 
"MayoClinic.com has developed a new service that guides men with early-stage cancer through the decision making process to determine what treatment option is best for..." them.  Check it out.

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WFree PSA may double PSA Accuracy

The Prostate Cancer Hot Sheet for May 2002 reports results of two new studies which found that free/total PSA ratios almost double the detection of prostate cancer.

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Diet again

From the Scripps Howard News Service - 9/19 and The May 2002 Hot Sheet
 According to researchers at UCLA's Johsson Cancer Center and UCLA's Department of Physiological Science found regular examinations, a low fat, high fiber diet and regular exercise can slow prostate cancer grown by up to 30%.  (Ed. - I just finished 2 years on such a diet and, while I feel better, my PSA doubling time of 1 year seems to have remained unchanged so note the "up to" part.)

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Jerry Bylander - Newsletter Editor