Waiting for the Next Prostate Cancer Treatments

  

Will they come in time for my generation?

There are almost too many promising new prostate cancer treatments in clinical trials to count. A very few have been approved and many are in the clinical trials process. That’s great! I’ll drink to that!

Those of us who have been living with prostate cancer (or other cancers) for five, ten, or fifteen years can’t help but wonder how soon these new drugs will be available. And will they work for me? Everybody wants to live happily ever after. I sure do--whatever that means.

Of course, there will be a price to pay—drugs seem to be getting more and more expensive, there will be the ever-present side effects, and maybe we'll feel a little guilt that the new drugs weren’t there for previous generations.

Many diseases such as polio, AIDS, malaria, smallpox, and whooping cough have gone from fatal to curable or treatable in my lifetime. I have lost family and friends to some of them. Those people were born in the wrong century, wrong decade, or wrong place. And that will always be true.

If this sounds a little maudlin, I’m sorry. It’s just the way life is and the way science progresses. I believe there will  be more helpful treatments in my lifetime and I'm absolutely sure that by the time my kids and grandkids need a miracle cure there will be one for them. Keeping positive, believing there will be good outcomes, and living your bucket list seems a lot better than assuming the worst.

axman

The Cold, Cold Facts

What’s new in Prostate Cancer Treatment?

Every year or so I take another look at what’s happening (or not happening) in the prostate cancer wars. The answer (from my standpoint) in a nutshell is: not too much.

For eight years now I’ve been waiting for the next big breakthrough in prostate cancer treatment. All the ‘miracle’ cures I’ve been able to track down have proved to be less than advertised, anecdotal, unsupported, or downright fraudulent. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been improvements, new approaches, and new and better drugs (for example, keeping me alive 2.5 months longer is a step in the right direction but NOT a miracle cure in my estimation).

Genetics

Advances in the study of genetic inheritance may help in future prevention – I’m sure it will help my grandkids and their grandkids. This is a long, long term project.

Diagnosis

The PSA test is imperfect, new urine tests are being tested, biopsies in color are being developed to find cancers that don’t show up in black and white - and the controversy over testing or not testing rages on. It still seems that being diagnosed early is a good idea but there can also be a misdiagnosis and needless treatment. I am glad I was diagnosed when I was.

Vitamins

There IS such a thing as too much of a good thing. Vitamins that can help can also harm if taken in very large quantities. Diet and exercise and vitamins are good. But they aren’t a silver bullet.

Treatments

As time goes by, surgery, radiation, and other procedures become refined and more precise and do less damage to other organs and functions. This is a slow process but a good one for the men who will have these treatments in the future.

As I grow older and older I am still glad that I am getting older rather than the other dubious alternative. Maybe the big breakthrough will happen next month

axman