9 Major Medicare Changes for 2026: Premiums, Drug Prices, and Program Cuts.

Another patient-friendly article showing that ADT’s plus ARPI’s dramatically cut patient mortality.

Combination treatment is the way to go. Fighting cancer with androgen deprivation therapy with androgen
receptor pathway inhibitors is replacing solo ADT use. The use of the two drugs together and early in the cycle produces dramatically better results.

Here's a short patient friendly article that again shows that PSMA-PET scans help patients make better treatment decisions. And, Ira and I will say it again. The bone scan is history. Insist on a PSMA-PET scan.

AI integration in healthcare is outpacing legal frameworks, creating liability challenges for physicians, health systems, and manufacturers. The standard of care may evolve to include AI, affecting what is considered "reasonable" practice in medicine.

Matthew Cooperberg, MD, speaks with Monique Roobol, PhD, lead author of the NEJM publication “European Study of Prostate Cancer Screening - 23-Year Follow-up.” Dr. Roobol reviews the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) trial’s 23-year findings showing a sustained reduction in prostate cancer mortality and an improved harm–benefit ratio with PSA-based screening.

Investigate various Advantage plans MEDICAL NEWS TODAY says are among the best.

Disease free survival. The goal every cancer patient wants to hear is elusive. A recent clinical trial may get us to disease-free survival with newly diagnosed patients with moderate to high-risk disease still in the gland.

I found a ten yearlong study of 2455 men with cancer in the prostate only that underwent surgery or external beam radiation treatment or active surveillance in 2011 to 2012 here in the USA. The research team wanted to know about side effects of treatment (or maybe no treatment in active surveillance) and compare post treatment risks side by side. Here's what they found.

Radiation has been made safer with the development of a genetic test called PROSTOX that in early trials looks like it can predict who will suffer late-stage side effects and who is likely good to go with MRI guided or PSMA guided SBRT and spacing methods to protect the rectum.

Prostate cancer is the only malignancy diagnosed by random biopsy and MRI guidance makes
biopsies accurate. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging is the standard for detecting prostate cancer.

We’ve all been waiting for a prostate cancer detection method with better accuracy than prostate specific antigen (PSA). Theis article describes research at Johns Hopkins into a urine test that can detect prostate cancer biomarkers

Here's a patient friendly article discussing how micro-ultrasound will someday soon improve the ability to find cancer in the gland thus making more correct biopsies. Add the benefits of costing hospitals and doctors less than the purchase of an MRI machine and getting patients to diagnose faster and more often because they don’t have to join an extensive line for MRI appointments and we get real benefits from this innovative technology.

The purpose of the Saturday post is to educate our men and their families about prostate cancer. What better experience than to have our fearless leader recount his experience with one of the much talked about whole gland and focal HIFU therapy. Let's hear it from Neal
Berke for this interesting real-world account of HIFU.

Uro-Today sent me links to several patient friendly videos and articles concerning PSMA-PET CT scans. Simply, PSMA-PET CT scans can advance diagnostic accuracy and precision treatment towards lowering mortality, morbidity, treatment side effects and perhaps treatment hassle and cost.

This is an encouraging, patient-friendly article about a 30-year study of survival and prostate cancer patients.

Here’s the link to a patient friendly and exciting article and video discussing some of the past, present and future of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound ablation, the role HIFU plays in active surveillance, and Focal One Robotic HIFU.

How about some news about a new theragnostic agent that looks like it will be a promising weapon against metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer? The first in vivo clinical trial of terbium-161 produced few side effects and a good result towards reducing both metastatic cells and micro-metastatic single cells thus outperforming Lutetium 177.

One of our group members wanted to know about theranostic treatment without chemotherapy. Dr. Finkelstein was the first to use Pluvicto without chemotherapy. This is an interesting discussion of the recent interest and excitement in theranostic medicine.

Medical News Today hits a triple home run with this vital piece by Faye Steward. Read it, share it with your friends and family. Steward has answers to questions we all ask about Medicare if we even know we need to ask these questions

I know you were busy with out-of-town guests and vacations this weekend. How about a short, patient-friendly article that could help you understand Part C?

Here’s a new germline (genetics) test developed by MiraDx and our presenter Joanne B. Weidhaas, M.D

A professionally written, straightforward piece about Medicare changes. You may want to bookmark it for future reference and check it against your own eligibility.

A patient friendly article about Pluvicto for the treatment of some forms of metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer. Good news: Increased progression free survival. Now the theranostics can be used before the chemotherapy. Hopefully this will avoid some of the exposure to the side effects of the Taxene chemotherapy.

This month I found an article about Proscar and side effects that was surprising. I practiced for 30 years plus and never have my patient’s reported depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety or any other psychological consequence from the use of Proscar or similar medications.

Micro ultrasound (MUS) diagnostic technology emerges and takes a step forward with the above multinational study showing it’s “non-inferior” to conventional MRI.

Professor Samir Taneja, M.D of New York University’s Langone Health Center’s Urology, Oncology and Radiology Departments presented on several issues concerning focal therapies in the United States.

Black men are at greater risk for serious prostate cancer and at greater risk for discovering it later and experiencing it earlier in their lives. That’s consensus among prostate cancer researchers and practitioners.

I want to share a short, patient friendly article that you will find important, especially if you are over 70 years old or so. If you’ve regularly attended our Support & Information groups, you’ve heard fellow prostate cancer patients discuss how their treatments are affected by other medical conditions. Good medicine strives to cure or reduce the impact of ailments without creating bigger problems. “First, do no harm."

Medical history is full of obsolete treatments and some never worked. Next in line for the history books is using a bone scan to find prostate cancer in the skeleton according to Professor Daniel Spratt, M.D. a radiation oncologist with Case Western Reserve University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Let’s look at two pharmaceutical firms whose products may provide precision cancer therapy soon. There are two reasons we are looking in the neighbor’s yard tonight. Frist, variations of these drugs may someday fight prostate cancer. And many of us know someone close to us fighting blood or breast or other cancers and they are looking for answers beyond what has been presented

Researchers wanted to know the effect of adding ADT’s to SBRT to treat oligometastatic disease. They found their patients receiving two therapies at once delays Mets for more than twice as long as the group treated with SBRT only.

How does robotic HIFU stack up against radical prostatectomy? According to Pascal Rischmann, MD, PhD, a urologist and president of the Surgical Society of France, HIFU is at worst “noninferior” and at best superior to surgery as far as its ability to kill intermediate risk cancer in the gland without long term side effects of impotence, urinary leakage and damage to the rectum and other tissues surrounding the prostate.

A study at the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Canada indicated that patients with a simultaneous high dose brachytherapy with external beam radiation had a high enough rate of progression free survival and low enough rate of toxicity to make this treatment the new standard of care at the Centre.

Ira and I are keen on second opinions for prostate cancer biopsies. We are considering advocating second opinions on MRI’s as well. Pathology and radiology are the same as other skilled fields. Some know more than others and are better at picking up subtle differences. That difference in skill might make a huge difference in the quality of treatment you get. Here's a link to a simple and straightforward article.

What if a take-home urine test could quickly and inexpensively eliminate the need for prostate
biopsies in men with indolent cancer? The accuracy of the My Prostate Score test was validated once again in a clinical study of men with known grade cancers. This test detects biomarkers for serious cancers like the PROMISE saliva test we’ve been urging our support group members to take.

Dr. G . Chiarelli and his team assessed mortality associated with active surveillance. They examined the medical records of 546 men, 75 years and younger who were diagnosed between 1995 and 2022. They decided on a criterion for compliance with active surveillance guidelines

A study led by Dr. Amar Kishan of UCLA, a recent presenter to the Forum, found that MRI guided SBRT does in fact protect healthy tissues outside of the margins. Those treated with MRI radiation did significantly better with bladder and bowel toxicity and sexual function than with CT.

ere’s some potentially good news for those of us who want to spend less time in an MRI machine, cut MRI costs, or are concerned about contrast media side effects.

We discuss genetic testing’s value in creating a personalized treatment plan resulting in metastasis - free survival without additional side effects and costs. The above article discusses the value of using androgen deprivation therapy (hormone therapy) with an androgen receptor inhibitor. Let’s understand how Metastatic P Ca grows.