Is AS safe? Can exercise help low-risk prostate cancers? Yes, and yes. Read more. And join upcoming webinars, k?
Plus a new 'Journal Club' for PCa patients, and a webinar for young men on AS
By Howard Wolinsky
Over the past week, I moderated two not-to-miss webinars on Active Surveillance (AS).
But if you missed them, here’s how you can catch up:
—First, co-sponsored by AnCan and Active Surveillance Patients International (ASPI), the webinar was ripped from the headlines and featured two superstars of AS, Drs. Laurence Klotz and Peter Carroll, who started advocating AS in the late 1990s.
The program focused on the safety of AS following a scary commentary on a sudden surge in prostate cancer in Francis Collins, MD, PhD, one of the top docs on the planet who revealed in a commentary in the Washington Post. Collins, who led the team that mapped the human genome and was director of the National Institutes of Health, had been on AS for the past five years and suddenly—sounded like overnight—saw his PSA surge to 22 and his Gleason score shoot up to Gleason 9 and he was heading for a radical prostatectomy.
Carroll and Klotz told the 220 or so people in attendance that cases like Collins do occur but are extremely rare.
Check out the program here: https://ancan.org/webinar-is-pre-treatment-active-surveillance-for-prostate-cancer-safe/
For more background, go here:
I plan to give a fuller account in an upcoming story.
—ASPI held a program attended by 200 on the benefits of exercise to men on AS.
The program includes the premiere of the latest in the Active Surveillance (AS) 101 video series, featuring a couple dealing with prostate cancer, Nancy and Larry White, interviewing an exercise expert, Kerry Courneya, PhD, of the University of Alberta, whose research has proven the benefit of exercise in slowing low-grade prostate cancer.
Courneya answered questions following the video.
I walked away with a couple of several take-home messages: (1) exercise is the single most important thing a cancer patient can do—even more important than diet, and (2) everything that gets worse with aging can be improved with exercise.
There was a lot more.
Courneya’s study in JAMA Oncology, showed for the first time that High Impact Intensity Training–bursts of exercise rather than a continuous approach—can help suppress the growth of prostate cancer cells in men on active surveillance
Courneya said brisk walking and other techniques may help, but not as much as HIIT.
Watch the video here: https://tinyurl.com/e9an78pb
The AS 101 series covering the basics on PSA, biopsies, and more can be seen here: Apatients.org/a-s-101/
And there’s more.
Here are a couple of meetings coming up:
Prostate Cancer: Not just an old man’s disease
Prostate cancer typically is diagnosed in men in their late 60s. It’s considered a disease of aging, an old man’s disease.
Gabe Canales was diagnosed when he was 35. At an upcoming webinar for ASPI, my friend Gabe will share his prostate cancer experience and how it can help you and your sons and grandsons.
(Gabe Canales.)
Canales, a marketing & communications expert from Houston Texas, was shocked when he was diagnosed at age 35. He had no symptoms or family history of the disease. He has been on what he calls Active Holistic Surveillance for 13 years.
He told his story in the book, “Unexpected Diagnosis,” which follows his journey to uncover the unconscious lifestyle habits that plague the well-being of American men. Through his journey to save his own life by improving his physical and mental health, he shares knowledge from top doctors, experts, and professional athletes while providing insights on how masculinity and healthy living aren’t mutually exclusive.
Canales’ story is an inspiring look at how micro-changes in lifestyle and diet can lead to big changes in health, cancer outcomes, and lives saved.
Canales’s message should inspire older men to make lifestyle changes and to address issues of prostate and overall health screening for our sons and grandsons.
He shares his message in speeches to younger men through his foundation.
Gabe will be speaking at noon Eastern, Saturday, May 25. Register Here: https://tinyurl.com/3sexhrrp
And there’s more: A medical journal club for prostate cancer patients
Active Surveillance pioneer and super advocate Matthew Cooperberg, MD, MPH, of the University of California San Francisco, is breaking new ground in patient education—discussions of significant papers by researchers and patients.
Cooperberg has launched what may be the first “journal club” for prostate cancer patients.
Cooperberg invited me—and all of us—to join his group.
He told me in an email: “A traditional journal club involves a group of docs ± trainees reading cutting-edge papers and discussing their strengths and limitations and implications for research/practice.”
He added: “The Prostate Cancer Journal Club for Patients presents recent, game-changing medical papers while avoiding medical jargon and focusing on direct impact on patients’ treatments. The purpose is to educate patients to help them make better-informed decisions about their prostate cancer care in collaboration with their doctors.”
The next session is entitled “PSA rising after prostatectomy and/or radiation therapy for prostate cancer?” and covers the practice-changing finding, from the EMBARK clinical trial.
Lead investigators Stephen J. Freedland, M.D. and Neal D. Shore, M.D., will be featured with commentary by Rana McKay, MD.
The free program will be at 5 p.m. Eastern on May 14. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/4tamfuuk
Background:
The EMBARK clinical trial compared the effectiveness and side effects of three treatment options for men with high-risk disease and a rapidly rising PSA after primary therapy.
UroToday, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Patient Advocates, host the Prostate Journal Club for Patients.
The first journal club covered the ProtecT study in the U.K., establishing active surveillance as a safe contender with surgery and radiation. The program featured lead researchers Drs. Freddie Hamdy and Jenny Donovan. You can watch it here: https://tinyurl.com/2w33x822
The patient Q&A is available here: https://tinyurl.com/35b3st68
Here’s some background on the ENACT and ProtecT trials from TheActiveSurveillor.com: