Prostate Screening Update

New guidelines say physicians should educate men on risks, benefits of PSA testing.
ABC World News (3/3, story 6, 2:00, Besser) reported that "there's a big change in store" for prostate cancer screening. "Since 1997, the American Cancer Society (ACS)...hasn't routinely recommended the PSA test, but most doctors have done it. Now they're saying you need to have a conversation between you and your doctor before that test is done."
The Los Angeles Times (3/4, Maugh) reports, "New guidelines...issued Wednesday emphasize that physicians should better educate men about both the risks and benefits of using the PSA test for screening." The group "also urged greater use of education specialists, pamphlets, videos, and other materials."
The AP (3/3, Stobbe) reported that the ACS "wants doctors to talk to men and give them plenty of information before they have a PSA test to make sure they understand its limits." The new guidelines follow recent findings that the "PSA test may lead to unnecessary treatment for many men," because "the test can't clearly indicate whether a cancer is aggressive or harmless."
PSA blood tests can "lead to false readings that require additional tests and biopsies...said" lead author Andrew Wolf, a physician at the University of Virginia, Bloomberg News (3/4, Randall) reports. "If patients do choose to be screened with PSA blood tests, those with low levels can safely be screened every other year instead of every year as suggested previously, according to the new recommendations."
The Houston Chronicle (3/4, Ackerman) reports that "the guidelines also urge doctors to...make the digital rectal exam an option rather than using it as a standard screening tool" and to "base the frequency of PSA testing on previous scores." And, although the ACS does not "call for eliminating mass screening events," the group recommends including "high-quality information upfront of screening's potential risks."
CNN (3/4, Falco), MedPage Today (3/3, Bankhead), Reuters (3/4, Steenhuysen), HealthDay (3/3, Gardner), and Medscape (3/3, Mulcahy) also covered the story.
Sanofi drug may boost prostate cancer survival. The New York Times (3/4, B10, Pollack) reports, "A new drug being developed by Sanofi-Aventis extended the lives of men with advanced prostate cancer in a clinical trial and could become a new last-ditch treatment," according to research presented at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium. Sanofi intends "to complete its application to the Food and Drug Administration for approval of" the new drug, cabazitaxel, "in the first half of this year."
Bloomberg News (3/4, Randall) reports, "Cabazitaxel is the first drug shown to break down tumors and prolong life after patients have been treated with Paris- based Sanofi's Taxotere [docetaxel], a standard chemotherapy for prostate cancer, according to...the study's lead author" Oliver Sartor, the Piltz Professor for Cancer Research at Tulane Cancer Center. He added that "progression-free survival was better, response rate was better, and virtually every subgroup of patients did better."
The New Orleans Times-Picayune (3/4, Pope) reports that the study showed an "increase of nearly 19 percent" in median survival time with cabazitaxel compared to mitoxantrone. Although cabazitaxel provides an "advantage of less than three months," Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang, of the Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, who sits on the cancer-communications committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, noted that "advances in cancer therapy have always been incremental."
WebMD (3/3, Laino) reported that Vogelzang also said that men with early stage prostate cancer may see greater benefits from the drug. Reuters (3/4), MedPage Today (3/3, Phend), and the AP (3/4, Marchione) also covered the story.
Dendreon says provenge boosts survival in patients with prostate cancer. Dow Jones Newswire (3/4, Shwiff) reports that Dendreon Corp. said that a Phase III study of its prostate cancer treatment Provenge (sipuleucel-T) showed that the drug boosted overall survival by 40% after three years compared to placebo. The company had previously reported a 38% increase in survival after 34 months. Dendreon is expected to present its data at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting Friday.