Augmenix, Inc. has announced that Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany, performed a commercial implantation of the company’s CE Mark approved SpaceOAR™ System. The SpaceOAR hydrogel (from spacing Organs At Risk) is designed to be a tissue compatible, absorbable spacer to reduce radiation injury to healthy tissues. Since the prostate lies directly over the rectum, prostate radiation treatment always results in some rectal radiation which can lead to pain, rectal bleeding, urgency, and other serious complications.

Read the full story here

A genome-wide study on Japanese subjects has identified 5 new genetic variations linked to prostate cancer and revealed differences and similarities between Europeans and Asians in susceptibility to the disease. Reported in Nature Genetics, the findings offer a first-ever glimpse of the genetic basis for prostate cancer susceptibility in a non-European population. Despite having the lowest rates of prostate cancer in the world, Asian countries have experienced a rapid rise in incidence of the disease.

Read the full story here

With a recent first of its kind surgery, physicians at Mayo Clinic in Arizona have developed a new surgical procedure for the treatment of prostate cancer using natural orifices – signaling the next step in the evolution of minimally invasive surgery. Removing the prostate is a common treatment for patients with prostate cancer, which affects one in six men in the U.S. according to the American Cancer Society.

Read the full story here

Claros Diagnostics has announced the CE Mark approval for its rapid quantitative point-of-care diagnostic platform, which can now be used for prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing throughout the European Union. The approved system consists of a small portable analyzer and credit card-sized disposable. Claros is preparing for the European launch of its urology product and continuing the process to attain regulatory clearance in other markets, including the U.S.

Read the full story here

Researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Center for Prostate Disease Research (CPDR), in collaboration with investigators at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, have developed a highly specific assay for the detection of ERG, a protein associated with tumor formations which is present in more than half of all prostate cancers. This reagent has an unprecedented specificity (99.99%) for detecting prostate tumor cells.

Read the full story here

DNA blood tests under development may provide a more accurate way to detect prostate and breast cancer, according to findings presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. The findings, from a study of 575 subjects, showed that the tests have a 92% sensitivity and 100% specificity for detecting both malignancies. By comparison, PSA tests for prostate cancer have demonstrated an 85% sensitivity and 25%-35% specificity.

Read the full story here

Current treatment results for prostate cancer are at an excellent level. Using targeted drugs to increase the radiosensitivity of cancer cells has been proven to improve treatment results in many cancers, without a need to increase radiation doses. The purpose of this study was to estimate the safety and tolerability of the daily administration of 250 mg of gefitinib given concurrently with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy to patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer.

Read the full story here

The degradation of proteins and other macromolecules in cells is vital to survival. Disruption of this process can result in serious disease. The research group at FMP and MDC has now succeeded in identifying an essential cellular process necessary for the transport and degradation of macromolecules in endosomes and lysosomes, respectively. A standard treatment for prostate cancer that has spread to the bones is with a drug approved by the FDA called samarium 153.

Read the full story here

Looking to harness the body’s own immune system to target prostate cancer that has spread to the bones (metastatic) and is unresponsive to standard treatment, investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) have just launched a clinical trial focusing on a combination of vaccine and radiation drug therapy. The goal is to see if disease progression will be further delayed by adding two different experimental injections to the standard treatment.

For the full story click here

Abiraterone acetate (AA) can be safely administered for long periods without concurrent steroids in patients with advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), according to research presented here at the 2nd European Multidisciplinary Meeting on Urological Cancers (EMUC). AA reduces levels of testosterone, oestradiol, and cortisol, but it increases levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone, deoxycorticosterone, and corticosterone, which could lead to hypokalaemia, hypertension, and fluid retention.

For the full story, Click Here