ALL ABOUT PROSTATE AND MALE HEALTH

New marker for prostate cancer

U.S. researchers have discovered a new highly specific marker for prostate cancer avoid unnecessary biopsies
The determination of blood levels of PSA is the marker that is used to detect early prostate tumors. Although it is a very useful test, its main drawback is its lack of specificity, ie which may be increased in other diseases than cancer which causes some men to undergo unnecessary biopsies. The new marker EPCA-2, much more specific, is emerging as an alternative to PSA for detecting prostate cancer and its prognosis. Prostate cancer (PC) is the third leading cause of cancer among men after lung cancer and colorectal. Although in recent years shows an increasing trend, mortality has remained stable and the data highlight the significant increase in survival from 40.3% at five years in the period 1985-89 to 55% in the period 1990-1994.

The natural history of prostate cancer is complex and there are several subtypes with different potential aggressive latent forms that cause no symptoms, progressive ways that give clinical presentations that evolve rapidly with a fatal outcome (not exceed 10% of cases .) The aggressive potential than currently makes a man has a 16% chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer throughout his life, although only 3% of dying for their cause. This fact is also reflected in the high percentage of PC (about one third in men over 70 years) found in autopsies of deaths from other causes. For screening of the CP, there are three different tests: digital rectal examination, PSA and transrectal ultrasound, although it is more effective is the PSA. The determination of the PSA is normal practice in the health, despite the inconvenience that can give false positives and that does not distinguish slow-growing tumors and often asymptomatic, aggressive or poor prognosis.
The alternative

A team of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (USA) presented work that demonstrates the usefulness of another blood protein, EPCA-2, to identify the presence of prostate cancer cells with greater specificity than PSA. The new test recognizes the presence of a tumor and localized distinguishes those cases where the disease has already spread. The study, which was recently published in the journal Urology, was conducted with 330 patients with different profiles: patients with normal PSA levels and no evidence of disease, with elevated PSA but negative biopsies, patients with benign prostate diseases that these levels may also increase (hyperplasia), patients with prostate cancer but with normal PSA, tumor confined within the gland or cancer and spread and, finally, a varied sample of individuals with other diseases or tumors of different types.

To determine the threshold of EPCA-2 scientists conducted the first, a preliminary analysis that allowed them to set the value of prostate cancer risk above 30. Applying this test, the results showed that the EPCA-2 test was negative in 92% of subjects without prostate cancer. 97% of men with benign prostate diseases or cancers elsewhere in the body have the new protein levels below 30. In the group of individuals suffering from prostate cancer, 94% had values of EPCA-2 levels (90% for lesions located in the gland and up to 97% of those who had spread, with the highest levels in patients with more aggressive disease.) The new marker also detected 78% of cancer cases in men with normal PSA levels. The authors not only highlight the effectiveness of the test to recognize the presence of a tumor, but their ability to distinguish between cases located within the prostate gland and those in whom the disease has already spread. "Detecting especially life-threatening prostate tumors is the philosopher's stone of diagnosis," says Robert H. Getzenberg, coordinator of the study.

"The current PSA testing can not distinguish between cancers that develop so slowly that it does not involve a life-threatening and requiring immediate attention," added the expert. The hope is that the EPCA-2 test will identify patients with slow-growing cancers make them candidates for "watchful waiting" instead of immediate surgery or other treatment. In the U.S. alone is estimated that 1.6 million men undergo prostate biopsies each year, although 80% is negative. With a new more specific marker would avoid unnecessary procedures and health expenditure in addition to the great concern of patients. The protein, which can be measured with a blood test (like PSA), have yet to be validated in further trials before it can be used in clinical practice. The test for analyzing this marker is still in experimental stage, but its designers hope it can be commercially available in 2008.

Anti-inflammatory TEA

A component of green tea in combination with low doses of the painkiller cox-2 inhibitor, celecoxib, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug used to relieve pain and inflammation, may slow prostate cancer growth. This emerges from a study sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute and published last March in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. The role of antioxidants as green tea in the prevention and treatment of cancer has been the subject of previous studies. Some studies have found that, individually, both the green tea as the cox-2, helping the fight against prostate cancer animals.

In this study with human cells cultured prostate cancer, researchers at the University of Wisconsin, USA, reveal that a combination of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the main active ingredient in green tea, and the inhibitor of the cox-2 are between 15% and 28% more effective in slowing the growth of cancer cells than either agent alone. The study shows, therefore, that both have a synergistic effect.

On the other hand, other research indicates that antioxidant therapies, which provide important nutritional benefits to cancer patients do not interfere with radiation treatment. This study, conducted by researchers at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, USA, examined the levels of PSA in patients with prostate cancer after being irradiated. In the results there are no differences between patients taking antioxidants and those who do not. Among the antioxidants used in the study included green tea extract, melatonin, vitamin C and vitamin E.

Sexual activity can prevent prostate cancer in older men

The frequent ejaculation ducts clean up sexual apparatus of carcinogenic substances, according to a study.
Frequent sexual activity of males aged between 20 and 50, in a ratio of five times per week, may have a preventive effect on the development of prostate cancer in older ages, according to results of a study conducted in Australia and published yesterday in the British magazine New Scientist. " The study is based on the completion of questionnaires to 1079 patients with the most widespread form of cancer among men and 1259 healthy people. The result of this comparison is that those who had more ejaculations between 20 and 50 years have a lower risk of developing the cancer and that the possible protection is more pronounced when ejaculation occurs between 20 and 30. Five ejaculations per week at these ages, the study said, could reduce by one-third chance of getting an aggressive cancer.

The authors of the research belong to the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, and its conclusions are contradicted by other studies indicating that promiscuity and frequency of sexual intercourse with a partner increases the risk of cancer to 40%. The authors note that this contradiction may be because in previous statistical studies, respondents were asked about sex partner and were not asked about masturbation ejaculation product. And infections in coitus couples would be a factor so far not taken into account.
They also consider the possibility that the male respondents lie about their sexual behavior, but warn that the macho culture would in any case boast more sex than those kept in the reality and reduce the number of masturbations declared. That would strengthen cultural assumption in any case the results of the study.

Duct cleaning: In the light of statistical analysis, the report's authors speculate on possible reasons and conclude that frequent ejaculation ducts clean up sexual and reproductive apparatus of carcinogens. The prostate secretes the fluid of semen. The investigation also took into account aspects such as the number of sexual partners and the various contexts in which there is ejaculation. The findings indicate that the circumstances in which it occurs, either during intercourse, masturbation or during sleep, "have no impact on results.

Cryotherapy and prostate.

Cryotherapy is a technique with cold, that could help  cure prostate cancer and reduces its aftermath. This treatment reduces erectile dysfunction after surgery and eliminates incontinence. New treatments for prostate cancer fight not only for the highest healing power of this evil, but to minimize side effects two great concern to men: impotence and incontinence. This is the case of cryotherapy, a technique that is now coming to Spain and has already yielded its first success at the Institute of Advanced Urological Surgery in Madrid, where they have achieved full remission of prostate cancer in about 40 patients.

Based on the freezing of the organ for destruction, minimizing risk by not requiring surgery, reduced by up to 30% of erectile dysfunction that occurs after surgery and eliminates incontinence. Josep M. Banús, urologist Pilar Clinic in Barcelona and one of the doctors most cryotherapy has conducted across Europe, added to all these, another advantage: "It is the only treatment that, if evil persists, allow any other intervention, either with this or other systems. " Banús took part yesterday in a conference convened at the Hospital de Basurto, Bilbao, to urologists in Spain. During this meeting there were two operations for prostate cancer that were broadcast live to the University of the Basque Country through a pioneering system. This type of tumor will soon become, doctors said, the most frequently detected among the male population, ahead of lung and colorectal, due to increased longevity and thanks to early detection, which can guarantee a cure in most cases.

This method would only be practiced in a handful of private schools and costing between 6,000 and 12,000 euros, is to introduce "through perineal needles that freeze the affected organ. This leads to destruction of tissue, the body will to disappear, "explains Banús. Cryotherapy joins three existing methods, in addition to radiation therapy: traditional surgery, the only one that can supply at the moment, public health, "laparoscopy and brachytherapy. The difference between them lies not in the results, similar in all four, but the risks and the consequences they cause. The first two cause impotence in virtually all of the surgery and a more or less incontinence in a large percentage.

Miguel Unda, President of the Basque Association of Urology, emphasizes, however, a relevant difference between classical and laparoscopic surgery. "With this latest avoids many risks as we open the patient and the recovery is much better. Consists in reproducing the regular surgery, but introducing a few small tubes into the patient's abdomen, through which we extract the entire prostate gland". Brachytherapy is another recent technique that is still within reach of a few: the doctor implanted into the prostate through needles, about a hundred of radioactive seeds that destroy the tumor without removing the gland. In this case, the appearance of incontinence is rare, and impotence are almost all reduced to 70% of patients, similar results to those obtained with cryotherapy.

A high intake of multivitamins may be related to the risk of prostate cancer, study finds

The odds increase for those individuals who take these complexes more than seven times a week. A study published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute maintains that high intake of multivitamins in pill form may be associated with an increased risk of advanced prostate cancer or death. While the scientific evidence that these complexes prevent chronic disease are limited, the fact is that millions of people worldwide take multivitamins because they believe in their potential health benefits. Researchers in this study were asked what impact it may have multivitamin use on risk of cancer. This followed up to 295,344 individuals who participated in the study Diet and health of the National Institutes of Health United States to determine the association between multivitamin use and risk of prostate cancer.

After five years of monitoring, Karla Lawson, of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda (USA) diagnosed with prostate cancer, 10,241 men, including 8,765 with localized cancers and 1,476 with advanced cancers. The authors of this study found no association between multivitamin use and risk of localized prostate cancer, but did find an increased risk of advanced prostate cancer and mortality among men who used multivitamins more than seven times a week . The results of this study contribute to growing evidence that questions the beneficial value of antioxidant vitamins in a population generally well nourished and underscore the possibility that antioxidant supplements have unintended consequences for health.