Prostate Cancer 2016 update: We have compiled a list of our top news stories regarding prostate cancer and other related health problems including metastatic prostate cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart failure and heart attack. Prostate cancer may affect these other conditions or become affected by them and so it’s important to keep yourself informed on how they all relate.
In the last decade metastatic prostate cases have climbed 72 percent and the upward trend could be a result of fewer men being screened for it. Study author Dr. Edward Schaeffer said, ““One hypothesis is the disease has become more aggressive, regardless of the change in screening. The other idea is since screening guidelines have become more lax, when men do get diagnosed, it’s at a more advanced stage of disease. Probably both are true. We don’t know for sure but this is the focus of our current work.”
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It’s important that men get early screening for prostate cancer especially if it runs in their family or if they had a mother or sister with breast or ovarian cancer as his risk for prostate cancer will also increase as a result of that.
Below we have our top stories to not only keep you informed about prostate cancer but to also reveal ways to help lower your risk, too.
Prostate cancer patients on ADT face Alzheimer’s disease risk, lower prostate cancer risk in type 2 diabetics: Studies
Prostate cancer patients on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) face the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, but type 2 diabetics are less likely to develop prostate cancer, according to research.
The first study does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship, but merely shows an association between ADT and Alzheimer’s disease.
Lead author Dr. Kevin T. Nead said, “We wanted to contribute to the discussion regarding the relative risks and benefits of ADT, and no one had yet looked at the association between ADT and Alzheimer’s disease. Based on the results of our study, an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease is a potential adverse effect of ADT, but further research is needed before considering changes to clinical practice.”
Androgens are hormones that stimulate the prostate cells to grow. Therapies that suppress androgens are often used to target prostate tumors. In the U.S., nearly half a million men are on ADT.
Reducing androgen activity can lead to adverse effects, as the study pointed out it can contribute to obesity, diabetes, impotence, high blood pressure, depression, and heart disease. Recent findings have also uncovered that low testosterone could contribute to cognitive decline. Males with Alzheimer’s disease are often found to have low testosterone, compared to men without Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers evaluated two sets of medical data from the Stanford health system and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, involving 1.8 million patients from the former and 3.7 million from the latter. Continue reading…
Prostate cancer drugs linked to congestive heart failure, heart attack mortality risk in men: Study
A recent study published in BJU International states that certain prostate cancer medications can increase the risk of heart-related deaths in men with congestive heart failure or prior heart attacks.
Researchers led by David Ziehr of Harvard Medical School and Paul Nguyen, MD, of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, found that a common prostate cancer fighting hormone therapy — androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) — increases the risk of heart problems. These include coronary heart disease, diabetes, heart attacks, and sudden cardiac death.
Their analysis is based on an exhaustive study wherein the researchers conducted a detailed analysis lasting close to five years on 5,077 men with prostate cancer. The participants were divided into two groups. The first group (1523 participants) comprised of men who received ADT between 1997 and 2006. The second group of men (3554 participants) did not receive ADT.
After following the participants for 4.8 years, the researchers found no link between ADT and heart-related deaths in men with no cardiac risk factors, diabetes, or hypertension.
However, in men had earlier heart attacks or were diagnosed with congestive heart failure, ADT the risk of heart-related deaths went up by 3.3 times. Continue reading…
Prostate cancer patients on active surveillance may have metastasis
Prostate cancer patients on active surveillance may have metastasis.Metastasis is a term used to describe the spread of cancer to another part of the body. Prostate cancer, specifically, can spread to the bones as well as the liver or the lungs. Spreading to the brain, on the other hand, is rare for prostate cancer.
Even when prostate cancer spreads to other parts, for example, the bones, it does not become bone cancer – it is still considered as prostate cancer that metastasized.
Metastatic prostate cancer is an advanced form, and although there is no cure it can be treated and managed. The goals of treatment include managing symptoms, slowing the rate of cancer growth, and shrinking the tumor.
Sometimes, prostate cancer is locally advanced, meaning it has spread only to a nearby tissue. This is different from metastatic cancer, which is only when the cancer spreads to a different part of the body.
When prostate cancer metastasizes, the cancer cells break away from the original tumor, move through the blood or lymph nodes, and begin to circulate in the body. These cells then break through the blood vessels and latch onto tissue where they begin to multiply and grow.
The odds of developing metastatic prostate cancer is 50 percent for men diagnosed with local prostate cancer. A small percentage of men are not diagnosed with prostate cancer until it has turned into a metastatic cancer, which doctors can detect by sampling different tissues from various areas of the body. Metastatic cancer is found using X-rays, CT scans, MRI scans, and other tests. Continue reading…
Prostate cancer risk in men increases with high blood pressure, blood sugar, and BMI: Study
Prostate cancer risk in men increases with high blood pressure, blood sugar, and body mass index. Researchers looked at 289,866 men enrolled in a study called the Metabolic Syndrome and Cancer Project.
With the average follow-up time of 12 years, 6,673 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and 961 died from the disease. Men with high blood pressure and high body mass index (BMI) were at 36 and 62 percent higher risk, respectively, for prostate cancer-related mortality. Furthermore, men with higher metabolic factor scores also had a higher risk of dying from prostate cancer.
The study did not find an increase in the risk of developing prostate cancer due to metabolic factors. Metabolic factors were only associated with a higher risk of death from prostate cancer. Study lead Pär Stattin said, “These observations suggest that cardiovascular risk factors such as overweight and hypertension are involved in stimulating the progression of prostate cancer.” Continue reading…
Parkinson’s disease may increase prostate cancer or melanoma risk: Study
Parkinson’s disease (PD) may increase prostate cancer or melanoma risk according to research. The results of the study support a genetic link between prostate cancer, melanoma, and Parkinson’s disease. Coauthor Lisa Cannon-Albright explained, “The clinical implications suggest screening for melanoma and prostate cancer in appropriate PD patients and, perhaps, vice versa.”
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The researchers looked at data from the Utah Population Database, consisting of over two million individuals with some records spanning over 15 generations. Dr. Cannon-Albright explained, “This unique data resource has allowed us to ask quite complicated questions about disease associations that may have a genetic component by looking for congregation of the diseases in the cases and their relatives.”
Of the 2,998 subjects whose death certificates listed Parkinson’s disease as the cause of death, 48 also had melanoma. The estimated relative risk was 1.95 percent. The risk of melanoma was also seen in the first-, second-, and third-degree relatives, with estimated risk being 1.23, 1.12, and 1.06 percent, respectively.
The researchers identified 212 cases of prostate cancer among those with Parkinson’s disease. The elevated risk of prostate cancer was also seen in the first-, second-, and third-degree relatives. Continue reading…
