Beyond The Abstract - Is It Necessary To Cure Prostate Cancer When It Is Possible?

[Guest guest]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/95053.php

Beyond The Abstract - Is It Necessary To Cure Prostate Cancer When It Is

Possible?

Main Category: Prostate / Prostate Cancer

Also Included In: Urology / Nephrology;  Men's health

Article Date: 25 Jan 2008 - 0:00 PST

UroToday.com - Treating Prostate Cancer as a Chronic Disease is becoming

increasingly popular among physicians who recognize that up to a third of

all prostate cancer treatments are unnecessary. The late, Fair, M.D.

(former Chairman of the Departments of Urology and Surgery at Memorial

Sloan-Kettering) popularized the concept when he stated in 2000, " Based on

everything we know about prostate cancer, I am not certain that it should

not be treated as a chronic disease. " What seemed like a condemnation of

radical prostatectomy was based on his frustration or inability to

predictably cure men with prostate cancer. His commentary energized a

segment of the academic medical world that believed radical prostatectomy

was over utilized. He also validated my research, which was in its infancy.

To be sure, I have shown men can live with prostate in the majority of cases

without the need for definitive therapy. I am motivated to do for the

disease what is required and nothing more. My research shows that it is not

necessary to cure prostate cancer when it is possible. Since 1999, men with

favorable prostate cancer characteristics have been able to participate in a

prospective chronic disease management (CDM) study, employing an academic

strategy versus the cancer. While diet, nutrition, exercise, stress

reduction and education are the pillars of this protocol, what sets this

study apart from others is the attention to prostatitis resolution using a

patented all natural formula.

To date, 28 men with a mean age of 63 years (median 64 years) have been

followed for an average of 48.5 months (median - 46 months). A review of the

updated data confirms the stability and integrity of a protocol that allows

men to excel clinically with prostate cancer. All men in the study were

believed to have had organ confined disease, while 71% had a clinical stage

T1c and 29% of men noted clinical stages of T2a-T2c. 86% of the men had a

Gleason score (GS) of 5 or 6 while the most aggressive cancer monitored was

a GS of 7 (4+3). 93% of men had reduced their PSA by 55% noting a mean PSA

entry of 6.6 ng/ml (range: 2.1-14.4), while overall a 48% reduction in PSA

was seen. The International Prostate Symptom Score Index (IPSS-Index) noted

a 63% reduction in voiding symptoms while the Expressed Prostatic Secretion

(EPS) noted a 77.2% reduction in the white blood cell count (a standardized

measure of prostate inflammation).

Based upon a preponderance of data, the American Association of Cancer

Research (AACR) and independent experts like Bostwick, M.D.,

pathologists have expressed a major role for inflammation to the evolution

of prostate cancer. The reduction in prostate inflammation noted in this

study as measured by the EPS may be the most sentinel finding that supports

their belief. While further studies are encouraged, it is my belief that the

resolution of prostatitis may be the key piece of information to allow us to

formulate a prevention trial for prostate cancer. Minimally, an improvement

in voiding symptoms, a reduction in prostate inflammation and a lower PSA

value have validated a conservative approach for the majority of patients

with prostate cancer.