Recommendation against PSA test goes too far
A draft recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force calling for an end to routine PSA testing for healthy men age 50 and older goes too far, says Gerald Andriole, MD, a prostate cancer expert at Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
Studies examine diet’s role in prostate cancer
The typical American diet includes nearly twice the recommended daily allowance for protein, and now a team of nutrition researchers, including Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD, and urologic surgeons at the School of Medicine, is conducting two studies to investigate a potential link between cancer and excess protein in the diet.
PSA test better predicts cancer in men taking prostate-shrinking drug
A new study by Gerald Andriole, MD, chief of urologic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, suggests the PSA test is more reliable in men taking dutasteride (Avodart®), a drug widely prescribed to shrink an enlarged prostate gland. Even a slight rise in PSA levels among men taking the drug was a stronger indicator of cancer than rising PSA levels in men taking a dummy pill.