Prostate Cancer Awareness and Information

Intermittent hormone therapy for prostate cancer inferior to continuous therapy

Stand Up To Cancer and Prostate Cancer Foundation announce new 'dream team'

Researchers find first major gene mutation associated with hereditary prostate cancer risk

New urine DNA test used with PSA can eliminate unnecessary biopsies and reduce fear of overtreatment

SELECT study by U-M based SWOG finds vitamin E raises prostate cancer risk

Men have overly optimistic expectations about recovery from prostate cancer surgery

Drug shows promise in prostate cancer spread to the bone

Half of prostate cancers could potentially benefit from new type of cancer drugs, U-M study finds

Addition of atrasentan to standard chemotherapy for advanced prostate cancer shows no benefit in phase III clinical trial

U-M scientists find potential driver of some aggressive prostate cancers

Prostate cancer spreads to bones by overtaking the home of blood stem cells

Scientists target aggressive prostate cancer

Task Force Recommends Against Routine Prostate Cancer Screening

Study Supports Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Study: Dutasteride Helps Men Undergoing Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer

A risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. Some risk factors, like smoking, can be changed. Others, like a person's age or family history, can't be changed.

But risk factors don't tell us everything. Many people with one or more risk factors never get cancer, while others who get cancer may have had few or no known risk factors.

Studies have found the following risk factors for prostate cancer:

• Age:
  Prostate cancer is very rare in men younger than 40, but the chance of having prostate cancer rises rapidly after age 50. Almost 2 out of 3 prostate cancers are found in men over the age of 65.
• Race/ethnicity:
  Prostate cancer occurs more often in African-American men than in men of other races. African-American men are also more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage, and are more than twice as likely to die of prostate cancer as white men. Prostate cancer occurs less often in Asian-American and Hispanic/Latino men than in non-Hispanic whites. The reasons for these racial and ethnic differences are not clear.
• Nationality:
  Prostate cancer is most common in North America, northwestern Europe, Australia, and on Caribbean islands. It is less common in Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America. The reasons for this are not clear.
• Family history:
  Prostate cancer seems to run in some families, which suggests that in some cases there may be an inherited or genetic factor. Having a father or brother with prostate cancer more than doubles a man's risk of developing this disease. (The risk is higher for men who have a brother with the disease than for those with an affected father.) The risk is much higher for men with several affected relatives, particularly if their relatives were young at the time the cancer was found.
• Genes:
  Scientists have found several inherited gene changes that seem to raise prostate cancer risk, but they probably account for only a small number of cases overall. Genetic testing for most of these gene changes is not yet available.
• Diet:
  The exact role of diet in prostate cancer is not clear, but several factors have been studied.
  
  Men who eat a lot of red meat or high-fat dairy products appear to have a slightly higher chance of getting prostate cancer. These men also tend to eat fewer fruits and vegetables. Doctors are not sure which of these factors is responsible for raising the risk.
• Obesity:
  Most studies have not found that being obese (very overweight) is linked with a higher risk of getting prostate cancer overall.

Source: American Cancer Society: What are the risk factors for prostate cancer?.

American Cancer Society revised prostate cancer screening guidelines:

ACS recommends that men with no symptoms of prostate cancer who are in relatively good health and can expect to live at least 10 more years have the opportunity to make an informed decision with their doctor about screening after learning about the uncertainties, risks, and potential benefits associated with prostate cancer screening. These talks should start at age 50. Men with no symptoms who are not expected to live more than 10 years (because of age or poor health) should not be offered prostate cancer screening.

Men at high risk: African-American men and men who have a father, brother, or son diagnosed with prostate cancer before age 65-begin those conversations earlier, at age 45. Men at higher risk-those with multiple family members affected by the disease before age 65-should start even earlier, at age 40.

Source: American Cancer Society: Revised Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines: What Has -- and Hasn't -- Changed

Early prostate cancer usually causes no symptoms. Some advanced prostate cancers can slow or weaken your urinary stream or make you need to urinate more often, especially at night. But non-cancerous diseases of the prostate, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) cause these symptoms more often.

If prostate cancer is advanced you may experience the following symptoms:

• Blood in urine(hematuria)
• Trouble getting an erection(impotence)
• Pain in the hips, back, chest
• Weakness or numbness in legs or feet
• Loss of bladder control

American Cancer Society: How is prostate cancer diagnosed?

UMClinicalStudies.org:

A Randomized Gene Fusion Stratified Phase 2 Trial Of Abiraterone With Or Without ABT888 For Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (NCI# 9012)
PI: Dr. Maha Hussain

A Phase II Trial of Cabozantinib (XL184) in Patients with Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer Metastatic to Bone
PI: Dr. David C. Smith

A Multi-Institutional Phase II Study of Hypofractionated Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Using Continuous Real-Time Evaluation of Prostate Motion
PI: Dr. Daniel Hamstra

Prostate Cancer Specialized Project of Research Excellence (SPORE)

Prostate Cancer Genetics Project

National Cancer Institute-Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials