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Do you have a news item to contribute?

We want to hear from you! Members of the support group are welcome to contribute any items of interest to the group at large. Updates on your status, news about prostate cancer treatments, or anything you feel would be of interest to the group are all welcome. Contact Doug Thornton, 588-1586 or or Howard Waage, 688-0423 with your story.  

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Newsletter: April 2006                                          

                                                                                                                                                      Howard Waage  (688-0423) ----Editor

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Where:   Our meeting will be downstairs in two-story redwood Education Building behind Santa Cruz

                    Dominican Hospital. We meet in the Bennett & Suzy Katz Cancer Resource Center on the 1st Floor.

When:   Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 7:00 PM  For more information: Please call-The Bennett and Suzy Katz

              Cancer Resource Center at Dominican Hospital 831-462-7770

Please feel free to contact any of the following steering committee members if you would like to volunteer

or if you have any suggestions or questions. 

Tony &  Beverley Calvo  684-0940   Frank Schmetz  438 4781   Bill McDermott 423-8350   Howard Waage 688-0423

Richard & Tina Koch  761-3577   Julie Batz 724-2701     Lynn Dreeszen 439-8632     Tim Ryan 476-6550

Our website: http://www.scprostate.org Doug Thornton  724-6446 (Webmaster)

SUPPORT SUB-GROUP FOR MEN WITH ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER MEETINGS

This group is for men that have been diagnosed with prostate cancer which has spread outside the prostate or who have experienced a recurrence after primary treatment. Typically, these men are receiving hormone blockade, are participating in a clinical trial or are receiving some other form of advanced treatment. The sub-Group meets every TWO months at the Katz Cancer Resource Center of Dominican Hospital. The sub-group meets on the 2nd MONDAY OF THE MONTH.

The purpose of this group is to better address the special problems and issues of men with advanced prostate cancer. In addition, at some meetings, we invite local medical oncologists to discuss their approach and treatments. Men with advanced prostate cancer will continue to be welcomed at the regular monthly meetings on the last Tuesday of the month. Tony Calvo has agreed to coordinate the sub-group. If you have any suggestions or questions, contact Tony Calvo at 684-0940.

Meeting Date:. The Advanced Prostate Cancer Support Group will meet on Monday, April 10, 2006, 5 – 7 pm. at the Katz Cancer Resource Center.

SUPPORT SUB-GROUP MEETING FOR WIVES and PARTNERS OF MEN LIVING WITH PROSTATE CANCER

This group is for women to share information with each other, learn more about prostate cancer, and how to cope with the impact of the disease individually and within the family in a supportive, caring and confidential environment. The meeting will be held every two months, the 2nd Monday of the month, 5 – 7pm (same time and same building as the men’s Advanced Prostate Cancer Meeting). For more information, contact Julie Batz at 724-2701

Meeting Date: Monday, April 10, 2006, 5 – 7 pm, Rm. E (upstairs from the Katz Cancer Resource Center)

UPCOMING EVENTS AND SPECIAL MEETINGS

Dr. Mark Moyad, M.D. (Nutrition and Prostate Cancer)     May 8th, 2006 Location TBA

Relay For Life of Santa Cruz    July 15 - 16, 2006  Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA

Relay For Life of Watsonville   August 12 - 13, 2006 Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds

The Silicon Valley and San Jose Prostate Cancer Support Groups present:

Steven Tucker, M.D.

The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, Los Angeles

Asst. Clinical Professor of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Saturday, April 15, 1:30 P.M.

Subject: “New Testing and New Treatments for Prostate Cancer”

Location: El Camino Hospital, 2500 Grant Road, Mountain view CA, 94040, in the basement just past the cafeteria. Parking MAY be a problem, arrive early!

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Please help us pay the travel expenses for Dr. Tucker:

A donation of $5 is requested.

Dr. Tucker is a medical oncologist and hematologist at the Angeles Clinic and Research Institute and specializes in the treatment and research of prostate cancer. Dr. Tucker obtained a B.A. in chemistry from Indiana University and his M.D. from the University of Missouri. His training included Residency and Fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at the UCLA Center for Health Sciences. Currently Dr. Tucker serves as President of the Medical Oncology Association of Southern California and is a member of several other medical associations. He lectures both nationally and internationally and his research has been published in leading medical journals.

….PROSTATE CANCER IN THE NEWS..…

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Men Need More Info On Prostate Cancer Options Mar 27, 2006 - By Karla Gale

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to treating localized prostate cancer, treatment decisions frequently do not appear to reflect patient preferences, investigators report in an upcoming issue of Cancer. "I think fear is a big factor, and I don't think patients have the information to discriminate between what it means to have prostate cancer versus what it means to have other types of cancer that are more aggressive," Dr. Steven B. Zeliadt told Reuters Health.

There is no "gold standard" for the best treatment of localized prostate cancer. The treatment choices include surgery (radical prostatectomy), X-ray therapy, implantation of radioactive pellets (brachytherapy) and "watchful waiting," the authors of the study note. Despite a plethora of studies examining how men decide on a treatment plan when they are diagnosed with localized prostate cancer, there is no consensus on what issues actually guide their decisions.

Zeliadt, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, and his associates identified 69 studies concerning the treatment decision-making process for localized prostate cancer. The findings will appear in the May 1st issue of Cancer.

Cancer eradication is the primary concern of most patients. The advice men are given varies according to physician specialty and usually does not include all pertinent information required to make an informed decision about survival and quality of life, the researchers report. And the information does not always take into account the seriousness of the patient's cancer.

"Currently, patients don't have the tools needed to integrate and synthesize the pros and cons of treatment," Zeliadt said. "Discussions that physicians have with their patients are generally not geared toward that integration; instead physicians tend to emphasize the benefits" of the treatment they are most familiar with.

Nevertheless, physician recommendation is a major influencing factor for more than half of patients interviewed. Study results suggest that physicians' advice varies, with blacks and men with lower income or education levels receiving less aggressive treatment.

"It's important for men to know that there's not really a bad decision to be made when considering treatment for localized prostate cancer -- that all treatments are pretty favorable," Zeliadt noted. "Patients tend to worry about which one is better in terms of survival, but that might not be the place to focus their energy. Instead, they should consider the side effects with each treatment option and how they will impact their lives."

Zeliadt and his associates recommend more studies to examine how the patient's priorities evolve from diagnosis to treatment completion. They also suggest that researchers explore how patients' personal values affect their decisions, as well as the role of family members, patients' ethnicity and socioeconomic status, and the settings in which men receive treatment. SOURCE: Cancer May 1, 2006.  http://today.reuters.co.uk/news

Subject:    Re: [P2P] Is Watchful Waiting A Good Choice For Me?

From:  strum@prostatepointers.org  To: p2p@prostatepointers.org Date:  March 17, 2006 5:47:09 AM PST

The P2P mailing list is found at http://www.prostatepointers.org/mailman/listinfo/p2p Material posted here is intended for educational purposes only, and must not be considered a substitute for informed medical advice from your own physician.

From: Stephen B. Strum MD, FACP Medical Oncologist Specializing in Prostate Cancer

To: [Rob B] Worktime for Response: 10:15 PM to 10:25 PM

-----Original Message----- To: p2p@prostatepointers.org Subject: [P2P] Is Watchful Waiting a good choice for me?

[Rob B] 

Hi Folks, My name is Rob and I am newly diagnosed with PCa. I posted this memo on the WW list and it was suggested to me to post it here. My question is whether I would be a good candidate for watchful Waiting or not Here are my statistics:

  Age=47    PSA 2/2001 = 3.9      PSA 12/2005= 4.7/4.0(2nd one lower? free% = 23%)

  Biopsy 12/2005= 5/10 cores positive 2 @ 20% 3@<5%. Both sides effected Gleason = 3+3=6

  Normal size prostate (35CC) Tumor unpalpable by 3 of 4 Uros. Most skilled specialist felt slight firmness one side

  CDUS showed some "hot spots" but no extracapsular extension

[Stephen B. Strum, MD] 

You have a core percentage of 50%. That is not a good finding for AOS (Active Objectified Surveillance), which is a term preferred over WW. You can also determine your tissue percentage involvement per the article by Stephen Freedland. You can also use tools on the PCRI website at www.pcri.org to calculate your tumor volume.  A quick estimate would be: about 1 cc.

[Rob B]  

I am debating whether WW (versus surgery, I think) is a good choice for me. I  am not inclined towards RT or seeds, because from what I have read, the side effects are comparable, but the success rate may not be as good (very hard to know on this one!)

[Stephen B. Strum, MD] 

I think the success rates for IMRT or brachytherapy are very good & comparable to RP.  The issue with all of these procedures relates to selection & preparation of the patient & choice of an artist to do the procedure.  To base treatment choices involving the skills of 50-100 urologists from universities publishing their findings & apply this to hundreds of thousands of men being operated on all over the world by a spectrum of very good-good-mediocre-bad urologists based on papers is actually pretty ridiculous. 

[Rob B]  

The benefits I see to waiting are:

  1) Delaying undesirable side effects.

  2) Waiting for improved techniques and treatment options in the future

  3) Finding out if health and diet routines are sufficient to arrest my disease

The downsides of WW include:

    1) Increasing possibility of metastesis

    2) Reduced possibility of having nerve sparing surgery later (perinueral invasion)

    3) Increased possibility of having positive margins

  I have an argument going on my head. The points in favor say:

    1) My PSA is fairly steady over 5 years (doubling time = 20 years???)

    2) Gleason grade of 6 is low

    3) free PSA percentage is favorable at 23%

  Arguments against say

    1) I am young and am hoping for 30+ years of survival

    2) Tumor volume is potentially large (widespread across prostate) and bilateral

    3) Clinical Gleason grades are understaged 30% of time relative to actual stage.

  I have been going back and forth with this for several weeks now and have not been able to find much info in any studies. Are people out there successfully using WW without compromising their treatment effectiveness if and when it is required?

[Stephen B. Strum, MD]

Each patient is unique in that many of the issues you raised depends on how well the patient follow through & applies AOS (Active Objectified Surveillance).  What nutrition & life style changes will be applied, how will the patient be followed & at what intervals, are all key issues.  I see no problem to your being on an AOS protocol.  You can use:

Free PSA percentage, DRE, MRI/MRS with the new 3.0 Tesla magnet at UCSF. You can also use color Doppler ultrasound (CDU)…..

With the above being done at least annually, I see little risk for your getting into trouble. I would want the PSA studies done every 3 months to 4 months. All your internal medicine issues should be addressed re: LDL, CRP, BMD  (bone mineral density) with QCT technology, optimal weight, restriction of carbohydrates, emphasis on key nutritional adjuncts such as omega 3 fatty acids, selenium, lycopene, d-alpha tocopherol succinate, gamma E, boron, resveratrol

soy. You may wish to see what AOS clinical trials are open to you. Perhaps a visit to Larry Klotz M.D. in Toronto would be worthwhile assuming that the trial by Dean Ornish M.D. at UCSF is now closed (I am not sure about this).

I do not have Larry Klotz, MD contact information.  Good luck & get back to us with follow-up.

Gordon Saxe in San Diego was also involved in a diet & lifestyle study. Check with him: Gordon Alan Saxe, MD, PhD---Assistant Professor University of California, San Diego, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine Moores UCSD Cancer Center, 3855 Health Sciences Drive, MS 0901,La Jolla, CA  92093-0901 T:  (858) 822-2002

Stephen B. Strum MD, FACP - Medical Oncologist Specializing in Prostate Cancer

Oily Fish May Prevent Prostate Cancer Spread

LONDON MAR 21, 2006 (Reuters) - Eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as oily fish, may help prevent the spread of prostate cancer, scientists said on Tuesday.

Omega-3 and omega-6 are essential fatty acids that work together to promote good health. The body cannot make them, so eating a diet rich in the substances is important. Fish and certain oils such as canola and flaxseed are sources of omega-3 while raw nuts and seeds contain omega-6.

In laboratory studies, scientists at the Paterson Institute at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, England found that omega-3 fats could block the spread of cancerous cells.

Dr. Mick Brown, chief scientist in the research group, said the results of the research published in the British Journal of Cancer suggest a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids might help to inhibit the spread of the disease in men with early prostate cancer. Because omega-3 and omega-6 work together, it is important to maintain a balance of the two for good health. "Omega-6 fats, found in vegetable oils, nuts and seeds, increased the spread of tumor cells into bone marrow. This invasion was blocked by omega 3 fats -- the ones found in oily fish," Brown said in a statement. "It is possible to have a healthy balance of these two types of fat -- we only need about half as much omega-3 as omega-6 -- that will still stop cancer cells from spreading," he added.

The researchers believe omega-3 fatty acids interfere with functions of omega-6, which cancer cells may use as a source of energy, and prevent them from spreading beyond the prostate gland.

Prostate cancer is more treatable and has a better survival rate if it is diagnosed and treated in its earliest stages.

"Some tumors develop slowly in the prostate without producing symptoms and sometimes when symptoms do develop, it is because the cancer has already spread," said study co-author Dr. Noel Clarke. "Eating a diet with the right balance of omega 3 and omega 6 fats may well help to keep prostate cancer within the prostate gland where it may be monitored safely or more easily treated with surgery or radiotherapy."

Prostate cancer is the third most common cancer in men worldwide with 543,000 new cases each year, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France.

Professor John Toy, medical director of the charity Cancer Research UK that publishes the journal, said the role of diet in prostate cancer is not fully clear and that more studies were needed. Toy said, "Cancer Research UK advises people to reduce their risk of cancer by eating a healthy diet, high in fiber, fruit and vegetables and low in red and processed meat".             Source: http://www.cancerpage.com/news/article.asp?id=9519

Treatment Options Increasing for Prostate Cancer But reliable screening procedures remain elusive, a panel of experts reports. By Janice Billingsley - HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Successful surgeries, highly targeted radiation therapy, new insights in molecular biology and a drug that may be effective in preventing the disease are all signs of progress in the fight against prostate cancer, according to a gathering of experts in New York City on Wednesday.

"There has been a 25 percent decrease in mortality from prostate cancer in the last decade" due, in part, to earlier detection of the disease and improved treatment, said Dr. Peter Scardino, surgeon and chairman of the department of urology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

That's important, he said, because prostate cancer will hit one out of six men in his lifetime and is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, with about 30,000 deaths expected in 2005, according to the American Cancer Society. That number is expected to increase as the U.S. population ages, since prostate cancer primarily strikes men 55 and older.

Scardino, alongside two colleagues from Sloan-Kettering and two experts from the National Cancer Institute, spoke at the conference on the very latest advances in the treatment of prostate cancer. "Surgery is highly effective for serious cancers," Scardino said, as he listed cutting-edge techniques allowing more targeted removal or destruction of malignant tissue with fewer side effects.

Laparoscopy -- minimally invasive, video-guided surgery of the internal organs -- is one good example. Scardino said fewer than 10 percent of patients are being operated on using laparoscopy, but that number will probably increase to 75 percent in 10 years as more doctors learn the technique.

He emphasized that doctors are still on a big learning curve in mastering this procedure, so patients eager for the surgery -- which offers shorter recovery time with fewer side effects -- should investigate risks and benefits carefully before they opt for this relatively new surgery.

Similar advances in technology have dramatically improved radiotherapy treatment, said Dr. Michael J. Zelefsky, chief of Brachytherapy Service at Sloan-Kettering.

Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), which uses a computer to show internal organs in three dimensions, allows doctors to "target the radiation with exquisite accuracy, sparing normal tissue and resulting in a dramatic reduction in side effects," said Zelefsky. Furthermore, this pinpoint technology has allowed doctors to use much higher and more effective doses of radiation when treating cancer, because the risk of damaging healthy tissue has been reduced, he explained. In his own study comparing the effects of higher radiation doses to lower doses, he found that increasing the radiation dose "resulted in a [improved] clearance of cancer from 50 percent to 91 percent," Zelefsky said.

Early animal studies in genetics and molecular biology are also showing promise in preventing prostate cancer, reported Sloan-Kettering oncologist Dr. Howard J. Scher. He pointed to the role of tumor-suppressing genes called PTEN in preventing the spread of prostate malignancies.

Prevention of prostate cancer is a major, and more elusive, goal of health professionals, the doctors reported. They highlighted the current controversy surrounding blood-based screening for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which thousands of American men undergo every year.

Scardino noted that although PSA screening has become very popular, it has not yet proven to be a reliable marker for prostate cancer. In one way, the test may even be too sensitive -- detecting small, slow-growing tumors that may not ever require treatment, he said. "The PSA levels in the blood go from plus or minus 30 percent variability every year, so one test is not enough, and there is still no proven effect of the test," Scardino said. "Still, regular screening with a digital rectal exam and PSA can detect almost all cancers when they are curable."

Doctors from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) had more promising news as they discussed the results of a six-year study of the effect of the drug finasteride, known to help in treating benign prostate growth, on preventing the occurrence of prostate cancer. In the study, 18,000 healthy men took either a daily dose of 5 milligrams of the drug or a placebo for six years. According to the researchers, finasteride reduced the prevalence of prostate cancer by 25 percent. However, there was troubling news as well: Men who took the drug but still contracted prostate cancer experienced a slightly higher rate of more aggressive cancers -- a paradoxical finding that requires more study, the NCI experts said. Finasteride is not yet approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The study also found that about 15 percent of men with PSA levels at or below 4 -- traditionally considered a "no-risk" concentration -- actually had tissue biopsies positive for prostate cancer. That surprising discovery will also require more study, the researchers said. "That really caught our attention," said Dr. Howard L. Parnes, from NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention.

Dr. Leslie Ford of the NCI reported that the public needs to be better informed about preventing cancer. "Patients are very sophisticated about preventing heart disease. They have gotten the message across the board that if you pay attention to your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, you will prevent heart disease. This concept hasn't caught on in cancer prevention because we haven't been able to produce the numbers," she said. "We need more positive results from trials and a greater understanding by the public of the long process of cancer development and the importance of preventive strategies."

For more information about prostate cancer, visit the National Cancer Institute (cancer.gov ).

Source: http://www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/524713.html

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The Santa Cruz County Prostate Cancer Support Group does not endorse any provider, organization, product or individual.  All medical decisions should be made with the advice and consultation of medical professionals.

Our newsletter serves over 250 members. Many THANKS to the American Cancer Society for assisting with the printing and mailing of this newsletter and the Katz Cancer Resource Center for allowing us to use their facility.