Latest Prostate Cancer Treatments

General Information About Prostate Cancer

• Prostate cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the prostate.
• Signs of prostate cancer include a weak flow of urine or frequent urination.
• Tests that examine the prostate and blood are used to detect (find) and diagnose prostate cancer.
• A biopsy is done to diagnose prostate cancer and find out the grade of the cancer (Gleason score).
• Certain factors affect prognosis (chance of recovery) and treatment options.

Eight types of standard treatment are used:

• Watchful waiting or active surveillance
• Surgery
• Radiation therapy and radiopharmaceutical therapy
• Hormone therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Targeted therapy
• Immunotherapy
• Bisphosphonate therapy

Read the full article on the National Cancer Institute website.

Non-standard prostate cancer treatments

1. Cryosurgery

What is cryosurgery?
Source: National Cancer Institute
Cryosurgery is a treatment that uses extreme cold produced by liquid nitrogen or argon gas to destroy cancer cells and abnormal tissue. It is a local treatment, which means that it is directed toward a specific part of your body. Cryosurgery is used to treat tumors on the skin, as well as certain tumors inside the body. Cryosurgery may also be called cryotherapy or cryoablation.

Focal Cryoablation for Prostate Cancer
This 2023 study looked at 163-patients who underwent Focal Cryoablation of the prostate at a single clinic by a physician from November 2008 to December 2020.

The patient cohort included 27 patients with low, 115 patients with intermediate, and 23 patients with high-risk prostate cancers. At five years, this cohort yielded biochemical disease-free recurrence rates of 78%, 74%, and 55% for low, intermediate, and high-grade cancers, respectively. The study concluded: The extent of FC’s efficacy still remains to be established, but our conclusions demonstrate favorable PSA kinetics at five years follow-up. Common complications such as erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence were minimal but still present in the patient cohort.

The study also included the following on other types of ablation:

Different modalities of targeted focal ablation are available, including HIFU, focal laser ablation, radiofrequency ablation, photodynamic therapy, and cryoablation. The technology for cryoablation has been present for many years; hence, it is a common modality for focal ablation of the prostate. It is, however, valuable to note the efficacy and growing body of literature around alternative focal therapy modalities. Guillaumier S et al. (2018) focused on five-year oncologic outcomes after HIFU and found 88% failure-free survival in treating non-metastatic PCa [prostate cancer] in a 625 multi-center cohort. Musunuru HB et al. (2016) support active surveillance for low and intermediate-risk PCa with 15-year metastasis-free survival rates ranging from 64% to 94%. Azzouzi AR et al. (2017) performed the first randomized clinical trial and assigned a 413 low-risk PCa patient cohort to photodynamic therapy or active surveillance. This study found that at two years of follow-up, there were lower rates of histologic progression from photodynamic therapy (28%) rather than active surveillance (58%). The study additionally found that focal therapy reduced the rate of radical therapy for PCa from 53% to 24% in four years.

2. High-intensity–focused ultrasound therapy (HIFU)

What is high-intensity focused ultrasound?
Focused ultrasound works in the same way as rays of sunlight that pass through a magnifying glass and are concentrated at a single point, causing a significant temperature rise around the focal point.
Thermal ablation is a non-invasive (incisionless and radiation-free) treatment that has been used in humans since 1993.

Focused ultrasound treatments can be performed on an outpatient basis, require no incisions, and can result in minimal discomfort and few complications, allowing for rapid recovery. Source: Focused Ultrasound Foundation

This study says:
This study demonstrates the effective long-term cancer control achieved with HIFU in patients with low or intermediate-risk localised prostate cancer.

This study says:
HIFU for localized prostate cancer offered high control of local disease with low morbidity.

This study says:
Image-guided FUS is both safe and effective in the treatment of primary and secondary tumours.

See HIFU page

3. Proton beam radiation therapy

Proton Beam Radiation Therapy
A type of radiation treatment called proton beam radiation therapy may be safer and just as effective as traditional radiation therapy for adults with advanced cancer. That finding comes from a study that used existing patient data to compare the two types of radiation.

Traditional radiation delivers x-rays, or beams of photons, to the tumor and beyond it. This can damage nearby healthy tissues and can cause significant side effects.

By contrast, proton therapy delivers a beam of proton particles that stops at the tumor, so it’s less likely to damage nearby healthy tissues. 

Consensus Statement on Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer
This 2021 study article concluded: As an established and effective treatment for patients with prostate cancer, proton therapy reduces the excess radiation delivered to healthy tissues surrounding the prostate when compared with photon-based radiation therapy. Several prospective and retrospective studies have been published documenting the safety and efficacy of proton therapy in the management of prostate cancer and some long-term follow-up data are available and are accumulating. Consequently, proton therapy should not be considered experimental in the management of prostate cancer. It is efficacious when delivered to patients with localized prostate cancer or when delivered postoperatively. It also can be delivered safely to patients requiring pelvic nodal radiation for high-risk or node-positive disease. 

See Proton Beam Radiation Therapy page

4. Photodynamic therapy

What is Photodynamic therapy?
In the first step of PDT for cancer treatment, a photosensitizing agent is injected into the bloodstream. The agent is absorbed by cells all over the body but stays in cancer cells longer than it does in normal cells. Approximately 24 to 72 hours after injection, when most of the agent has left normal cells but remains in cancer cells, the tumor is exposed to light. The photosensitizer in the tumor absorbs the light and produces an active form of oxygen that destroys nearby cancer cells.

In addition to directly killing cancer cells, PDT appears to shrink or destroy tumors in two other ways. The photosensitizer can damage blood vessels in the tumor, thereby preventing the cancer from receiving necessary nutrients. PDT also may activate the immune system to attack the tumor cells.
Source: National Cancer Institute

This 2023 study concluded:
…PDT is a promising approach to treat prostate cancer that has the potential to provide a minimally invasive, highly targeted approach and negligible side effects on normal tissues when compared to conventional therapies. Several PDT approaches have already been approved by regulatory authorities including the FDA and the European Medicines Agency. Furthermore, combining PDT with other therapy modalities such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, and immunotherapy seems to be more effective against tumor growth. 

This 2022 study concluded:
PDT is a potential, minimally invasive treatment for localized prostate cancer that selectively ablates the disease with minimal effects on functional outcomes than RP, particularly on the bladder, rectum, and neurovascular bundle. Due to oncological safety, low toxicity and support by level 1 evidence from the only RCT within the focal therapy literature, PDT holds significant promise as the focal therapy of choice over other modalities for men with localized prostate cancer. 

See Photodynamic therapy page

5. Melatonin

Melatonin increases survival by more than twice in patients with poor prognosis:

This retrospective study included 955 patients of various stages of prostate cancer (PCa) who received combined hormone radiation treatment from 2000 to 2019.

In the poor prognosis group, the median overall survival in patients taking the drug was 153.5 months versus 64.0 months in patients not using it. In a multivariate analysis, melatonin administration proved to be an independent prognostic factor and reduced the risk of death of PCa patients by more than twice.

6. Berberine

What is Berberine?
Berberine (BBR) extracted from Coptis chinensis (roots, rhizomes, and stems) and from several other Chinese herbal plants, chemically, is an isoquinoline alkaloid 

Berberine and prostate cancer:
This study says: We concluded that berberine should be developed as a pharmacological agent for use in combination with other anticancer drug for treating metastatic prostate cancer.

See Berberine page.

7. Lycopene

What is Lycopene?
Lycopene is found in high amounts in tomatoes but is also present in watermelons, pink grapefruits, apricots, and pink guavas.

Lycopene and prostate cancer
A combination of vitamin E, selenium, and lycopene has been shown to dramatically inhibit prostate cancer development and to increase disease-free survival. Lycopene has also been shown to suppress the growth of lung cancer cells, according to this study

In this review, the authors highlight the remarkable ability of phytochemicals to decrease the replicative capacity of Cancer Stem Cells…These phytochemicals have been thoroughly studied for at least three decades…these studies provide a huge body of knowledge, which can now be applied in the development of treatments against CSCs.

8. Artemisinin (Anti-Malaria drug) and Prostate cancer

This study says: Taken together, our results suggest that artemisinin is a very potent anti-cancer compound that exhibits unique effects on the cell cycle regulation of human prostate cancer cells. As such, artemisinin has the potential to be developed as a potent anti-prostate cancer therapeutic.

9. Phellinus linteus

Phellinus linteus is a well-known Oriental medicinal fungus with a variety of biological activities, including immunomodulatory or direct antitumor activities, according to this study. Its extracts demonstrated tumor regression in three independent case reports…

We encountered a case of advanced prostate cancer that became resistant to all kinds of hormonal and radiation therapy, but improved dramatically with oral intake of an extract from the mushroom, Phellinus linteus, say the authors of this study.

10. Anti-parasite drug, nitazoxanide (NTZ)

Source: Labiotech.eu
A widely used anti-parasite drug, nitazoxanide (NTZ), is able to break down a protein called beta-catenin, which is found at high levels in prostate and colon cancer cells and supports their growth and survival. This opens up the possibility of repurposing the drug for the treatment of these cancers.

This 2023 study concluded:
NTZ is a potential therapeutic agent for bone metastasis induced by the TGF-β/Ac-KLF5 signaling axis in prostate cancer and likely other cancers.

11. Propranolol

This medication is a beta blocker used to treat high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, shaking (tremors), and other conditions

This study concluded…we observed reduced cancer-specific mortality among prostate cancer patients taking beta-blockers. However, we did not observe any effect of beta-blocker use on all-cause mortality in this meta-analysis. Taken together with studies in other cancer types and in preclinical models, our findings indicate a beneficial effect of beta-blockers on survival in patients with prostate cancer. Therefore, beta-blockers may be considered a promising therapeutic approach for adjuvant therapy in prostate cancer.

12. Papaya black seeds

Papaya is a soft tropical fruit with a yellowish-orange color. This species of fruit — which belongs to the Caricaceae family — is round and plump and comes in larger and smaller sizes.

Studies / Reviews
Carica papaya is an important and promising natural medicinal plant which could be utilized in several pharmaceutical and medical applications because of its effectiveness, availability and safety… Papaya promotes immune system. Papaya is potent cancer fighter that is highly effective against hormone related to cancer as well as other cancer. Papaya can stop the growth of cancer cell, halt metastasis and normalize cell cycle, says this Review

This study concluded:
The black seeds from papaya may have a potential to reduce growth of prostate cells; however, consumption of white seeds should be avoided as they may stimulate pre-existing prostate cancer.

13. Pfeifer Protocol for Prostate Cancer

Source: Pfeifer Protocol
Prostate Cancer Protocol Success

Clinical studies are showing this protocol successful in 65% of the patients that Dr. Pfeifer has used it on, even though it has largely been used with patients that have either failed conventional treatments or have been unable to tolerate them. This phytotherapy treatment program has none of the harsh side effects experienced using standard therapies for this disease. The successful results of his trial have been published in the January 2005 edition of Oncology, a Swiss medical journal (www.tellmed.ch). He now lectures around the world educating cancer specialists about his protocol.

This protocol has been reported to produce 50% reduction of PSA by 6 months in up to 70% of such patients treated in Switzerland with minimal side effects (Pfeifer and Aeikens Positive Health 2006, 120:19-25/ www.positivehealth.com).

Continue reading about this treatment at Pfeifer Protocol

See also
Complementary Therapies for Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer

14. MSKE (Muscadine grape skin extract)

A nutritional supplement containing an extract of the skin of muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia), with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and potential chemopreventive activities. The skin extract of the muscadine grape contains numerous phytochemicals … muscadine grape skin extract (MSKE) appears to inhibit PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling, eventually leading to apoptosis and a reduction in tumor cell proliferation – National Cancer Institute

This study says:
Here we provide the first evidence that dietary agents, namely, epigallocatechin gallate, resveratrol, or a mixture of polyphenols from green tea (polyphenon E) or grapevine extract (vineatrol), impede prostate cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo…

This study says:
In summary, MSKE treatment significantly inhibited the growth of metastatic prostate tumor cells in vitro [in a lab]and in vivo [in a living organism] by inducing cell-cycle arrest through the targeting of Hsp40 which is involved in cell-cycle progression and cell migration. Furthermore, we demonstrated that MSKE was safe at high concentrations and had a beneficial effect on metastatic prostate cancer. The safety of MSKE was confirmed by a Phase I clinical trial…
See more on MSKE page

Study: Sipuleucel-T, an autologous active cellular immunotherapy, has shown evidence of efficacy in reducing the risk of death among men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned 512 patients in a 2:1 ratio to receive either sipuleucel-T (341 patients) or placebo (171 patients) administered intravenously every 2 weeks, for a total of three infusions. The primary end point was overall survival…
Results: In the sipuleucel-T group, there was a relative reduction of 22% in the risk of death as compared with the placebo group… This reduction represented a 4.1-month improvement in median survival (25.8 months in the sipuleucel-T group vs. 21.7 months in the placebo group). The 36-month survival probability was 31.7% in the sipuleucel-T group versus 23.0% in the placebo group.
Conclusion: The use of sipuleucel-T prolonged overall survival among men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

15. Flaxseed plus low fat diet

This study found that prostate cancer patients on a flaxseed and low fat diet for 30 days before surgery had significantly lower proliferation rates than other patients who were not on the protocol.

16. Plant-based Diet

In 2005, Dr. Dean Ornish MD conducted an interventional study with 93 patients PROVING that you can reverse the progression of early stage prostate cancer with a plant-based diet, exercise, and stress reduction.

Metformin and Statins

Study Individual and joint effects of metformin and statins on mortality among patients with high-risk prostate cancer

Based on 12 700 patients with high-risk PCa [prostate cancer] , statin alone or in combination with metformin was significantly associated with reduced all-cause mortality … and PCa mortality…. The effects were more pronounced in post-diagnostic users: combination use of metformin/statins was associated with a 32% reduction in all-cause mortality, and 54% reduction in PCa mortality.

Some things worth considering:

1. Watchful Waiting or Active Surveillance/Active Monitoring

Source: National Cancer Institute
The general concept of watchful waiting is patient follow-up with the application of palliative care as needed to alleviate symptoms of tumor progression. There is no planned attempt at curative therapy at any point in follow-up.

In contrast, the strategy behind active surveillance/active monitoring is to defer therapy for clinically localized disease but regularly follow the patient and initiate local therapy with curative intent if there are any signs of local tumor progression. The intention is to avoid the morbidity of therapy in men who have indolent or nonprogressive disease but preserve the ability to cure them should the tumor progress. Active surveillance/active monitoring often involves the following:

• Regular patient visits.
• Digital rectal examinations.
• Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing.
• Transrectal ultrasound (in some series).
• Transrectal needle biopsies (in some series).

Active monitoring as effective as surgery and radiotherapy.

Source: Oxford University
Active monitoring is as effective as surgery and radiotherapy, in terms of survival at 10 years, reports the largest study of its kind, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Results published in New England Journal of Medicine show that all three treatments result in similar, and very low, rates of death from prostate cancer. Surgery and radiotherapy reduce the risk of cancer progression over time compared with active monitoring, but cause more unpleasant side-effects.

The ProtecT trial, led by researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Bristol in nine UK centres, is the first trial to evaluate the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of three major treatment options: active monitoring, surgery (radical prostatectomy) and radiotherapy for men with localised prostate cancer.

Chief investigator Professor Freddie Hamdy from the University of Oxford, said: ‘What we have learnt from this study so far is that prostate cancer detected by PSA blood test grows very slowly, and very few men die of it when followed up over a period of 10 years, – around 1% – irrespective of the treatment assigned. This is considerably lower than anticipated when we started the study.
Continue reading at Oxford University website

Here is a companion article published in the same journal.

Radical Prostatectomy or Watchful Waiting in Prostate Cancer — 29-Year Follow-up

This study says: In clinically detected prostate cancer, the benefit of radical prostatectomy in otherwise healthy men can be substantial, with a mean gain of almost 3 years of life after 23 years of follow-up. The remaining expected lifetime is important in decision making, with the reservation that it is hard to predict.

After 29 years of follow-up, at a time when 80% of all the participants had died, lower overall mortality, lower mortality due to prostate cancer, and a lower risk of metastasis prevailed in the radical-prostatectomy group.

Conclusions
Men with clinically detected, localized prostate cancer and a long life expectancy benefited from radical prostatectomy, with a mean of 2.9 years of life gained. A high Gleason score and the presence of extracapsular extension in the radical prostatectomy specimens were highly predictive of death from prostate cancer.

This 2017 study says:

The Prostate Cancer Intervention Versus Observation Trial (PIVOT) randomised 731 men from the early PSA era to RPX or observation. After a 10-year median follow-up, surgery did not reduce disease-specific mortality. There was also no significant reduction for all-cause mortality. Absolute differences were <3 percentage points for PCA and all-cause mortality. However, there was some evidence suggesting a subgroup effect favouring surgery in men with a PSA >10 ng/mL or intermediate risk disease…

Early intervention, including active surveillance, should focus on men with higher risk disease, a life expectancy of 15 years or more and who have a clear preference for early intervention. In patients with shorter life expectancy or with lower risk disease, clinicians should recommend observation or PSA-based monitoring with transition to curative treatment based on higher thresholds than used in ProtecT.4 In summary, ProtecT results add to our confidence that we improve our patients’ health by resisting the urge to ‘curatively treat’ all men with PSA detected localised PCA.

Prostate Cancer Risk Groups

The Prostate Cancer Foundation has this on its website:
Before planning your treatment, your prostate cancer doctors will take a close look at your risk group, which is a way categorizing the overall severity of a case and applying evidence and experience to determine how aggressively your treatment should be. There are 3 general risk groups based on the PSA, DRE, and biopsy, which can further be subdivided to better personalize treatment for each patient.

1. Low risk: Tumor is confined to the prostate, and the PSA is <10 and grade group 1 (Gleason 6). There is also a subset of extremely “slow-growing” tumors called “very low risk” in which fewer than 3 biopsy tissue samples contain cancer cells and the cancer is not detectable by DRE.
2. Intermediate risk: Tumor is confined to the prostate, the PSA is between 10 and 20, or grade group 2 or 3 (Gleason 7). This category is often divided into a “favorable” and “unfavorable” intermediate risk.
3. High risk: Tumor extends outside the prostate, the PSA >20, or grade group 4 or 5 (Gleason 8 to 10). There is also a subset of very aggressive tumors is called “very high risk” in which the tumor has extended into the seminal vesicles (T3b) or the rectum or bladder (T4), or there are multiple biopsy samples with high grade cancer.

These risk groups are not perfect indicators of your risk for developing recurrent, aggressive prostate cancer. Currently, there are extensive, ongoing efforts to develop tests that can aid physicians in more accurately telling the difference between cancers that will become fatal from those that will sit in the prostate without spreading.

The treatment options for each risk group are very different and you should ask your doctor which risk group you belong to so you can better understand the most appropriate next steps.

Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment

This study says: Adenocarcinoma of the prostate is probably the tumour with the greatest risk for overdiagnosis and overtreatment. During autopsy, tumours are often detected in the prostate, with older men more likely to have an indolent tumour (ie, a man aged 60 years might have a 50–60% risk of occult cancer). With repeated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing and 10–12-core biopsy of the prostate, often done repeatedly, small, low-grade tumours are frequently detected. Attesting to the relatively low biological potential of these lesions are the 99% and 97% disease-specific survivals at 5 years and 10 years of follow-up, respectively, for men who are simply monitored and only given treatment if they have evidence of a grade or volume increase. Despite this indolent behaviour, greater than 90% of these tumours are treated with radiation or surgery, generating morbidities of treatment (eg, sexual, urinary, and gastrointestinal side-effects, in about 15–20% of patients), increased risk of secondary malignancies (with radiation), and increased cost. Even active surveillance is hampered by the growing risk of sepsis in men undergoing repeated biopsies accompanied by increased cost and anxiety. 

In this study, Etzioni et al found that one in three prostate cancers diagnosed by screening for prostate specific antigen (PSA) is an over-diagnosis.

Here is a review of the ProtecT trial.

Source: Canceractive.com

WARNING: PROSTATE CANCER DIAGNOSED?

MEN – Do not do a thing until you read this!

A growing number of research studies shows that there is little or no survival benefit in having orthodox medical prostate cancer treatment if you are diagnosed over the age of 50. With the known and common side-effects, you are probably better off doing absolutely nothing or looking at non-invasive alternative treatments, and later in the article, we will cover some of those.

Other studies have exposed more medical mythology. Experts now view the PSA test as virtually useless, while others are clear that testosterone levels have no causal effect on prostate cancer.

And, let’s be clear, after the age of 50-55, at least 4 out of every 10 men will develop prostate cancer!

“No survival advantage in prostate cancer treatment”

In August 2016, a major research study by Professor Freddy Hamdy and his Oxford University team found that there is absolutely no survival advantage in having orthodox medical treatment for a newly diagnosed prostate cancer patient after 50 years of age.

The 2016 NHS study followed more than 82,000 men aged between 50 and 69 for a decade. And the bottom line? Only 1 per cent of the men died in that time from their cancer, whether or not they had treatment! The fact is that in the great majority of men diagnosed with prostate cancer later in life, the cancer is slow growing. You are more likely to die with it, than of it.

Importantly, this study was not the first of its kind, as you will see below, but it was the biggest, and in all such studies the results have been remarkably consistent bringing in to question the worth of orthodox medical treatment for prostate cancer in men over 55 years of age, especially in the light of its known high levels of side-effects.

PSA tests, false positives and completely unnecessary prostate cancer treatment

In 2012 there was a full report from the American Preventive Services Task Force (PSTF) on prostate cancer. This Government body concluded that PSA tests for prostate cancer were unreliable, do not offer men any tangible benefit in lifespan or quality of life, and conclude that many more men are injured than helped by PSA tests.

The PSTF research concluded that “only one man in a thousand tested would derive any real benefit, whereas a staggering 100 will receive false positives. Many of these people will then have biopsies, which can cause complications including infection”.

Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is a biological marker that oncologists and doctors use to detect the presence of a potential prostate tumour. However there are many other reasons why the PSA can be high; for example, you cycled in the previous 24 hours, consumed dairy, you have prostatitis (inflammation or infection in the prostate gland), or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or you went to the gym on the way to the hospital. Equally consuming lycopene (tomatoes) or eating a cooked tomato-rich meal will temporarily lower the score.

Also many prostate tumours are benign, would never cause serious health problems yet give high PSA readings.

The same study found that 90 per cent of men may then be treated with surgery or radiation for cancers that are not and will never be life-threatening, but five out of every thousand having these treatments will die within a month of initiating them. In other words, more than ten percent of all men screened for prostate cancer will generate false positives that could result in death from treatment, while a mere 0.001 percent or less will derive any sort of benefit.

“There is a small potential benefit and a significant known harm,” said Dr. Virginia A. Moyer, a professor of paediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and chair of the task force. She and her team are recommending that the PSA test for prostate cancer be abandoned altogether, and that patients avoid the test as part of their normal check-ups.

No link between testosterone levels and prostate cancer

Many doctors state that PSA tests might be imperfect but they are all that is available, so they might as well use them. This is actually not true. In America some experts measure the DHT levels.

DiHydroTestosterone (DHT) is the active compound, produced by the action of oestrogen on nice safe testosterone. DHT is what causes prostate cancer and the test is also a measure of cancer aggression.

Be clear: There is absolutely no link between prostate cancer and testosterone levels according to Peter Boyle, MD, of the International Prevention Research Institute, who reviewed two meta-studies and found no evidence that testosterone levels were linked in either.

No real benefit in prostate cancer surgery and hormone treatment but there are many problems

In research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Swedish researchers have concluded that if none of the men diagnosed with early prostate cancer had any treatment at all, over 97 per cent would still survive ten years or more!

After comparing a group of low to mid-risk prostate patients having no treatment with a group having the usual surgery and hormone treatments, some eight years later the death rate amongst men in the no-treatment (active surveillance) group was exactly the same as the figure for the general population!! The researchers stated that after ten years only a little over two per cent of men in the untreated group would have died from prostate cancer.

The researchers even suggested having surgery was pretty much a waste of time and made no difference to the outcome; worse, patients had to put up with often debilitating side-effects.

In a second study (New England Journal of Medicine – PIVOT study) led by Dr.Timothy Wilt of the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, 731 men were followed for ten years, after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Some had surgery, some did nothing.

At the end of the ten years 47 per cent of the surgery men died during the study compared with 50 per cent of those having nothing. This difference is not deemed statistically significant. However, importantly, men who choose to do nothing are only half as likely to suffer from urinary incontinence or erectile dysfunction.

“We think our results apply to the vast majority of men diagnosed with prostate cancer today,” said Dr. Wilt to the Chicago Tribune.

Importantly, in this study only 3 per cent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer actually died from it, whether they had had surgery or not! The rest died of other causes!

So this study also shows orthodox prostate treatment in men over 60 does not extend life. However, men who have surgery are much more likely to suffer side-effects – overall more than 50 per cent suffer impotence, and more than 10 per cent suffer incontinence.

Over 55 and diagnosed with prostate cancer? Watch and wait

Both the US National Health Institutes and the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommend ‘Active surveillance’, or ‘Active Monitoring’. The ‘cut off’ is a Gleeson score of 6 or lower. Starting once every three months then every 6 months this may become once per year and then once every two years. 50 per cent of men diagnosed in America in 2016 with early stage prostate cancer now ‘watch and wait’. CANCERactive first recommended this strategy in 2005, 11 years ago and four years ahead of other UK charities. Five years ago in America only 10 per cent of men followed Active surveillance programmes.

One expert US oncologist Dr. Matthew R. Cooperberg, a urologist and epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, is actually arguing for new terminology that says there is abnormality but doesn’t use the ‘C’ word. Cooperberg observes that life expectancy in the over 60s is 10-15 years when diagnosed, even without treatment.

IMPORTANT: Can you take your own steps to treat your prostate cancer and live longer?

The idea of simply ‘waiting’ can fill men with some horror. But then so too can the thought of prostate surgery, drugs to cut testosterone, radiotherapy and debilitating side-effects.

So can you take matters in hand? The answer is an emphatic ‘Yes’.

1. Prostate cancer risk and aggression increases the more saturated fat, such as cows’ dairy, and alcohol you consume. Higher triglyceride levels in the blood stream are known to progress the disease.

2. Conversely, diets high in polyphenols (such as pomegranate, curcumin, resveratrol and EGCG in green tea) slow growth. One supplement, POMI-T, developed by Professor Robert Thomas has been shown to reduce PSA levels in clinical trials. Thomas originally had all newly diagnosed men around his hospital on broccoli, tomatoes and light daily exercise, pushing back the need for surgery by at least three years. Oestrogen regulators like Indole 3 Carbinol and melatonin also help slow the process.

3. A good diet and lifestyle can limit prostate cancer growth rate. And there is research concluding that both curcumin and grape seed extract can reduce metastases in prostate cancer.

4. German Clinics (such as Klinik St Georg) have evidence that prostate biopsies, apart from risking infection and impotence, can spread the disease. There are UK clinical studies concluding the same. Do you really need a biopsy?

5. Rather than invasive surgery, men should look into localised hyperthermia (also called Ablation). This can melt away the tumour and hospitalisation is short with side-effects minimal. The prostate tumour can be heated using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) or a tube with a metal element placed in the middle of the tumour.

6. The Nanoknife IRE, which uses needles either side of the tumour and passes a current through the tumour to punch holes in the cancer cells causing them to lyse, is another potential option.
7. Instead of radiotherapy and brachytherapy, less damaging and more contained proton therapy is now increasing in popularity in America.

8. Research in 2008 linked 13 chemicals to prostate cancer. All these chemicals were ‘oestrogen mimics’. Research has shown that where selenium levels are low, supplementation of up to 200 micrograms can have positive effects. Selenium can displace chemicals and heavy metals from the body.

9. Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, has been shown in research to reduce both risk and aggression. Public Health, England advise everybody to go in the sun and, if you can’t, to supplement. Harvard Medical School advise supplementation at 5,000IUs per day for people with cancer.

10. Men who incorporate a higher overall ratio of plant-based foods and herbs into their diets reduce aggressive prostate cancer risk by 25 per cent according to a University of South Carolina study. Researchers claimed the benefit came from bioactive compounds called flavonoids found in colourful foods (for example, strawberries, grapes, greens, onions, citrus fruits).

11. Another study showed the higher your consumption of naturally fibrous foods the stronger your immune system; while yet another showed the same high-fibre diet slowed prostate cancer growth.

12. Maintaining a healthy gut (taking probiotics and probiotic foods like Kefir, Sauerkraut and unpasteurized milk products) can boost the immune system and lower bad triglyceride levels. Extra virgin olive oil, fish oils and consuming nuts and seeds can also help significantly.

Canceractive.com has also published the following article:

Glutamate and prostate cancer

Source: canceractive.com

Plasma glutamate levels directly correlate with the prostate Gleason score and the primary cancer’s aggression; this finding could lead to less invasive ways to diagnose prostate cancer rather than a biopsy and points to natural treatments for glutaminase rather than hormone therapy targeting testosterone.

This research study published in 2012, was very clear in its conclusion, also showing that in men with metastatic cancer, serum glutamate was considerably higher that in men with only a primary tumour.

Back in 2012, the researchers suggested that it would be a much more accurate test for prostate cancer than taking a PSA reading or having a biopsy with its risks of infection and disease-spread.

Glutamate is an alternative fuel for cancer cells after sugar. It can be made from folic acid, glucose and is involved in fat metabolism but its primary precursor in glutamine, an amino acid widely available in protein, especially animal protein.

Glutamine is also a non-essential amino acid, meaning that if your body runs short, you simply make it from other sources. You muscles are glutamine-rich; you brain holds about 25% of the glutamine in your body.

Glutamine is available in meats such as chicken, game and steak, and bone broth. It is also found in cheese. Glutamate deprivation reduces prostate growth

Another conclusion of the study was that glutamate deprivation reduced growth, invasion and migration of prostate cancer. As does glutamate ‘blockade’.

Chris Woollams, former Oxford University Biochemist said, “This last point is extremely interesting. If glutamate blockade is a benefit what they are suggesting is blocking an enzyme, glutaminase, which they did in the research with a drug. Glutaminase converts glutamine into glutamate.

We have previously covered that compounds such as Ursolic Acid, lycopene, curcumin, EGCG, resveratrol, Honokiol, valerian, ashwagandha, sulforaphanes and Graviola can all block this enzyme. We know these compounds are also very useful against prostate cancer, and most also attack cancer stem cells, which are in higher-than-usual levels in prostate cancer.

It seems such as shame that no action has really come from this research. That doesn’t stop readers though, does it!?”

In interviews Chris Woollams has said the following:
Radiation works but gives rectal cancer after a few years
Eat a Mediterranean diet
Stay away from steak, bacon, ham, salami, eggs
Cut oestrogen with melatonin or black cumin seed oil
Use lycopene + turmeric plus Piperine
Holy basil  (Tulsi) plus turmeric or resveratrol 500 to 700 mg
Ursolic acid found in pistachio nuts
Berberine.
Pomegranate
EGCG (Green Tea)
Black cumin seed oil
Zinc
IP6 800mg between meals two to three times daily
B complex supplements.

Hormone therapy can make prostate cancer worse, study finds.

Source: Science Daily / University of Toronto
Scientists have discovered how prostate cancer can sometimes withstand and outwit a standard hormone therapy, causing the cancer to spread. Their findings also point to a simple blood test that may help doctors predict when this type of hormone therapy resistance will occur…continue reading
( link to original study)

For prostate cancer patients undergoing Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT)

This study says: In summary, calcium and Vitamin D supplementation is a recommended complementary therapy…in men undergoing ADT…

This study of 32 prostate cancer patients undergoing ADT says diet [more vegetables and less fast/no junk foods] and exercise “resulted in significant, clinically meaningful improvements in mobility performance, muscular strength, and body composition.

This study says:

• Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is associated with adverse metabolic effects which can affect prognosis in men with prostate cancer.
• Progressive resistance training (PRT) is an exercise modality which can benefit both body composition and muscle function during ADT.
• PRT may exert its positive effects on prostate cancer prognosis through its modification of cancer signalling pathways.

The Prostate Cancer Research Institute advises:

Sarcopenia (Loss of Muscle Strength)

Editor’s Note: The acronym TIP describes all testosterone inactivating pharmaceuticals.

The elimination of testosterone in men leads to a deterioration of lean muscle mass, an increase in fat mass, and a subjective decrease in physical function. In other words, men get weak, gain weight and don’t feel as well when they are on testosterone deprivation therapy. These side effects become evident within the first three or four months after starting on a TIP and progress the longer a man continues treatment.

Prevention / Treatment Strategies
Research shows that strength training can often prevent or reverse the loss of muscle mass and physical well-being associated with the reduction of testosterone. The importance of regular strength training cannot be stressed enough. It should be a priority in any strategy to prevent and treat the side effects of any TIP. The essence of a successful strength-training program is lifting weights to the point of muscle failure. Programs to build muscle need to start slowly for the first few months so that no injuries develop. A professional trainer is highly desirable.
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Here is a very comprehensive article about treatments and dealing with side-effects from canceractive.com

Prostate Cancer – Risk of Recurrence?

Oncotype DX® Prostate Cancer Assay
Article source: Oncotypedx
Test available from: Oncotypedx

The Oncotype DX Prostate Cancer Assay harnesses the power of genomics to provide a more precise and accurate assessment of risk based on individual tumor biology. Using a minimal tissue sample from a needle biopsy, the test builds on traditional clinical pathologic factors to provide additional, clinically relevant insight into the underlying prostate tumor biology, enabling physicians and their patients to make treatment decisions with greater confidence.

Patients with newly diagnosed low-risk prostate cancer—and their urologists—need to know the aggressiveness of their tumor. The Oncotype DX Prostate Cancer Assay can help. This genomic test performed on a patient’s needle biopsy provides essential insight into the underlying biology of that patient’s prostate cancer. The result is reported as the Genomic Prostate Score or GPS, and provides a more precise, accurate, and individualized risk assessment that can help a patient and his urologist make a confident choice between active surveillance and immediate treatment.

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