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Oct 14, 2010

Prostate Cancer: PSA Test (Part I)

Question: I’m in my sixties and I just had a blood test. My PSA went up from 2 to 3. My doctor told me to see a urologist to get my prostate checked. How worried should I be about cancer at this point? When older men gather, they exchange PSA...

Oct 20, 2010

Prostate Cancer: PSA Test (Part 3)

[This is the final part of a three-part series on the PSA test for prostate cancer.] Cancer of the prostate is one of the most common types of cancer among American men. More than 6 in 10 cases of prostate cancer cases occur in men 65 and older. Treatment for...

Nov 30, 2010

Finger Length Could Point to Prostate Cancer Risk

Men whose index fingers are shorter than their ring fingers were exposed to more testosterone in the womb, and some studies have shown them to have manlier traits than men with the opposite pattern. However, a new study shows that manliness could come with a penalty: a higher risk for...

Aug 3, 2011

Urine Test Could Better Determine Prostate Cancer Risk

A man's risk of developing prostate cancer could be better measured with a urine test than with existing methods, a new study reports. The test looks for a genetic change that occurs in some prostate cancers, and its results could be used to separate men into high-, intermediate- and low-risk...

Sep 20, 2011

Sex After Prostate Cancer Treatment: New Model Predicts Men's Chance of ED

Men with prostate cancer commonly wonder how their sex life will fare in the wake of their treatment. Now, a new study may give them a more personalized and accurate answer to that question than was before possible. By taking into account the type of prostate cancer treatment, as well...

Nov 14, 2011

Prostate Cancer May Be Linked to Birth Control Pill in Water Supply

Countries where the highest numbers of women use oral contraceptives have the highest rates of death from prostate cancer, a new study finds. Birth control pills contain the female hormone estrogen, and in recent years, some experts have raised concerns about the presence of estrogen and similar compounds in foods...

Mar 12, 2012

Circumcision Linked to Lower Prostate Cancer Risk

Men who are circumcised may have a lower risk of developing prostate cancer, a new study finds. Researchers at the University of Washington surveyed 1,754 men with prostate cancer, and 1,645 similar men who did not have the disease. They found that those who had been circumcised before they first...

Mar 14, 2012

Prostate Cancer Screening Test Saves Lives, New Study Finds

Prostate cancer screening does save lives, although screening may have to be done for many years in order to provide a benefit, according to a new study. In the study, men who were screened for prostate cancer using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test were about 30 percent less likely to...

May 30, 2013

More Prostate Cancers Can Be Monitored Rather Than Treated

Many men diagnosed with prostate cancer should not undergo treatment right away, but rather, have their cancer closely monitored and treated only when the disease progresses, according to an independent panel convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The panel said men with low-risk prostate cancers, or about 100,000...

May 30, 2013

Sex Improves for Prostate Cancer Survivors After Couples Therapy

Couples counseling, whether carried out online or through face-to-face therapy, improves the sex lives of men who have received treatment for prostate cancer, a new study says. The findings suggest couples counseling provides benefits to patients' sex lives beyond those brought by medications, including erectile dysfunction pills. Despite efforts to...

May 30, 2013

Exercise Helps Prostate Cancer Patients Live Longer, Study Shows

Men with prostate cancer who exercise may have a lower their risk of dying from the disease than those who don't, according to a new study. Compared with men who walked less than 90 minutes per week at an easy pace, those who walked 90 or more minutes per week...

May 30, 2013

Viagra Gives Prostate Cancer Treatment a Lift

When combined with the erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra, a long-used chemotherapy drug called doxorubicin may be even more effective as a treatment for prostate cancer, according to a new study. Viagra improves doxorubicin's tumor-fighting power and also makes doxorubicin a safer drug, the researchers said. However, the studies were conducted in...

May 30, 2013

Prostate Cancer Patients Who Undergo Surgery Have High Survival Rates

Men with prostate cancer who undergo surgery to remove their prostate glands have a high survival rate and low rates of cancer recurrence, cancer spread and death, according to new research. The study included 10,332 men who had the surgery called a radical prostatectomy between 1987 and 2004. Between five...

May 30, 2013

Tests for Prostate Cancer Improving with New Technology

When 54-year-old Jeff Rolf went in for his annual physical three years ago, he did not expect to come away with news of an abnormal PSA level and, eventually, a prostate cancer diagnosis. But the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in Rolf's blood had slowly increased between 2000, the year...

May 30, 2013

Balding at Age 20 May Signal Higher Risk of Prostate Cancer

For a man, starting to go bald while in one's 20s signals a higher risk for prostate cancer than other men have, including those who go bald in middle age, a new study suggests. Men with prostate cancer were twice as likely as healthy men to have started balding at...