Should You Have Prostate Cancer Genetic Testing?

Should You Have Prostate Cancer Genetic Testing? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Should you ask for prostate cancer genetic testing? Dr. Nima Sharifi discusses prostate cancer genetics and shares his perspective on how testing can help ensure the best care for a patient.

Dr. Nima Sharifi is Director of the Genitourinary (GU) Malignancies Research Center at the Cleveland Clinic. Learn more here.

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Transcript:

Dr. Sharifi:

I think it’s okay when you’re speaking with your physician to say that you’re concerned about the genetics of prostate cancer. You can ask about personalized medicine treatment options, and whether genetic testing would make a difference for treatments.

 

And you can also bring up the concern about family members, and that there may be an inherited or heritable component of cancer that could be passed down, for example, from one generation to the next and that could be shared among siblings. I think there’s nothing wrong with bringing that up. And I would suggest that if that’s a concern, that a man does bring that up with their physician.                                   

 

So, it turns out that there are certain germline mutations that can predispose to several different types of cancers.

 

For example, these BRCA mutations can predispose to developing prostate and perhaps more aggressive prostate cancer, but they can also predispose to developing breast cancer. So, if you look, for example, at members of a family who are related, you may see that certain cancers may develop in multiple family members. So, if you see that that – If you look at your family history and you see that that is the case, then you may want to think about genetic testing and perhaps to see a genetic counselor to talk about getting tested.

Newly Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer? Consider These Key Steps

Newly Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer? Consider These Key Steps from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

For those who are newly diagnosed with prostate cancer, figuring out what to do next can be overwhelming. Prostate cancer survivor Jim Schraidt outlines advice for patients to encourage self-advocacy and to access resources and support.

Jim Schraidt is a prostate cancer survivor and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Us TOO International. Learn more about Jim Schraidt here.

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How Does Us TOO International Support Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Loved Ones?

How Does Us TOO International Support Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Loved Ones?

How Could You Benefit from Joining a Prostate Cancer Support Group?

How Can You Insist on Better Prostate Cancer Care?


Transcript:

Jim Schraidt:

If you’re newly diagnosed, get a second opinion on your biopsy slides. Because reading those slides is as much an art as it is a science. And we’ve had people who will come to our support groups who then went on to have their slides reviewed on a secondary basis. And it’s changed their diagnosis. In one case, a guy discovered that he actually did not have prostate cancer.

And in other cases, it’s changed the grading of the cancer that’s identified in the biopsy, which of course then impacts treatment decisions, whether it’s active surveillance, surgery, radiation, or systemic therapy. So, that would be the first thing. I think the other thing, and I that think this is true for most medical issues, is to get a second opinion, take the time to get a second opinion.

And in the case of prostate cancer, try to do it at a medical center that takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the disease. So, you would be meeting at the outset with a urologist, a radiation specialist, and perhaps a medical oncologist who can really take you through the options, the treatment options for your situation.

And then I guess the final of three items that I would say is find a support group. And even if you want to just join one of the virtual groups and listen and learn, that’s perfectly fine. But learn about the disease you have, and learn about the treatment options, and learn the things that you need to ask your medical practitioners to help you get the best outcome.

Because the happy patient is going to be the one that knows what he’s getting into and makes and accepts that as part of his decision and can focus after treatment on healing and not on treatment regret.

How Could You Benefit from Joining a Prostate Cancer Support Group?

How Could You Benefit from Joining a Prostate Cancer Support Group? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are some of the benefits provided by prostate cancer support groups? Prostate cancer survivor Jim Schraidt shares his perspective on how support groups can help patients with the emotional aspects of the disease as well as serve as a resource for information sharing.

Jim Schraidt is a prostate cancer survivor and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Us TOO International. Learn more about Jim Schraidt here.

See more from The Pro-Active Prostate Cancer Patient Toolkit

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How Does Us TOO International Support Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Loved Ones?

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How Can You Insist on Better Prostate Cancer Care?


Transcript:

Jim Schraidt:              

I think there are two primary ways that support groups are helpful. In the best case, a man will come to a support group as a newly diagnosed patient. And we’re actually working with a pilot project at Northwestern in Chicago where we have a support group that’s been in existence for a little over a year at this point.

But one of things that we’re working with the urology department there on is to get the urologists to refer newly diagnosed patients to the support group. And I think the primary benefits to a newly diagnosed patient are first, sort of removing some of the anxiety by talking to people who have been through the process and reminding them that in 90 percent of the cases they have some time to do some research, talk to people, and make a good decision that they can live with.

Because all of the treatments for prostate cancer, with the possible exception of active surveillance, come with side effects that a person undergoing this kind of treatment is going to have to live with for the rest of this life.

So, it’s a decision that’s very important. And to have the best possible outcome for a patient, they need to know what those side effects are. And they need to hear from men who have actually been through it.

I think the second important function of support groups is just support; after treatment, or if a patient is unfortunate enough to have recurrence or progression of his disease. And we’re not practitioners. We’re not medical practitioners. We don’t give medical advice. But there are lots of tricks of the trade, if you will, that men who have been coping with side effects can share with other men and help them get through it.

And part of that is just having a place to talk about what they’re going through, whether it’s things that they’re embarrassed to talk with their friends about, or things where they’re having difficulty communicating with their partner. I know from experience also that anger is a big thing that many patients experience, anger, and depression, post-treatment. And for me, one of the huge benefits of a support group was finding a place where that anger could go.

Because, I mean, even the best and most well-intentioned spouse, partner, or whatever, is going to grow tired of an angry patient partner.

And that can impact communication and can isolate a patient. So, it’s really important to have a place where some of that can go. And that’s part of the second piece, as far as I’m concerned.

The whole mental health piece really is under-emphasized, under-discussed by practitioners, but is very real for a lot of men undergoing this treatment. And the good news is that, that there is help available, and you can get through this. But many, many, many times you can’t do it on your own.

And you can’t do it solely with the help of your partner many times. So, this is one way you can talk to other people who have been through it, and they may have suggestions about therapy or talking to mental health practitioners.

How Does Us TOO International Support Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Loved Ones?

How Does Us TOO International Support Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Loved Ones? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are the ways that Us TOO International can help prostate cancer patients and their loved ones? Jim Schraidt, a prostate cancer survivor and chairman of Us TOO’s board of directors shares how his involvement with support groups evolved after his diagnosis and how Us TOO is working to improve support for both patients and care partners.

Jim Schraidt is a prostate cancer survivor and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Us TOO International.

See more from The Pro-Active Prostate Cancer Patient Toolkit

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Newly Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer? Consider These Key Steps

How Can You Insist on Better Prostate Cancer Care?


Transcript:

Jim Schraidt:              

My name is Jim Schraidt. I am now a 10-year, almost 11-year prostate cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in January of 2010 and had surgery in March of that year. Since then I’ve been involved in various support groups and some of those activities.

I found my way to a support group probably about three or four months after I was treated. And I was very active in that support group for a number of years. They helped me with a number of issues I was having at the time. And eventually I went on to become the facilitator of that group, and I’ve been in that role now for about five years.

Us TOO helped me find my initial support group. And we currently sponsor a network, a nationwide network of about 200 support groups. I became very interested in the work that Us TOO was doing, and I ran for Board, their Board of Directors. And I was elected, and I’m now finishing my sixth year on the Board and my second year as Chairman of that Board.

So, we’ve been very active in looking at the entire prostate cancer community and trying to develop new and better ways to serve patients. One of the things that we’ve accomplished in the last couple years is a partnership with a prostate cancer foundation, with is the leading private-research funder of prostate cancer research. So, we’ve worked with them to help make education about clinical trials available, for example. And they are contributing to our monthly newsletter with research news that’s actually put in laymen’s language so that people can understand it.

We’ve collaborated with other prostate cancer organizations, and we believe that this is critically important, that by working together we can amplify the patient voice and develop the best possible educational materials. So, in addition to the support groups, we have that going on. We also have a website that has a great deal of information about prostate cancer, support groups, and that sort of thing.

We are the prostate cancer sponsor for the Inspire site, which is an online community where prostate cancer patients can type in a question and have that question answered by other prostate cancer patients, or people who are knowledgeable in the field.

We actually have some practitioners that occasionally check in on that. So, then I think the final thing is that we have a couple of dial-in support groups that are for subspecialty types of patients and caregivers.

The first is called A Forum for Her, and it’s exclusively for women partners and caregivers. It gives them a separate and safe place to go and talk about the disease from a woman’s perspective. And then the second, newer dial-in support group we have is for gay men. And this is a group of men that for various reasons are less comfortable than they need to be in a broader kind of support group.

So, we’re working on that as well. One of our key initiatives as we look to celebrating our 30th year next year is support group leader education. And the goal here is to teach support group leaders best practices and make resources available to them so that they can either direct patients where to find information, or they can go back and find information and give that to patients directly.

So, the goal, once again, is to bring some standardization to the support group experience, and make sure that men are getting the best possible support and information.

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Caregiver Support: Taking Care of YOU

Caregiver Support: Taking Care of YOU from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Prostate cancer caregivers support patients in many ways, but also need support for themselves. Social worker Linda Mathew details the role of caregivers and shares resources to help them maintain their own self-care.

Linda Mathew is a Senior Clinical Social Worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Learn more here.

See more from The Pro-Active Prostate Cancer Patient Toolkit

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Transcript:

Linda Mathew:

So, caregivers have a really important role in caring for their loved ones, so whether it’s their spouse, or a sibling, or a child, they – their role 1). Is to advocate as well for the patient in terms of saying, “Hey, you know what? Let me call the doctor’s office. This side effect was on the list, but I’ve noticed that it’s ongoing, so let me reach out to the office for you if you’re not feeling well.”

They are the eyes and ears for their patient or for their loved one in terms of just saying, “Something is not right. Let me call.” And, most of our nurse practitioners or nurse office practice nurses will say to the caregiver, “You are our eyes and ears when you’re at home. When the patient is here, we’re the eyes and ears for that person to assess what’s going on.”

But also, the caregiver really – sometimes, what happens is there’s a role reversal, so they become that emotional support for the loved one, the financial support, practical support, and also the spiritual support for their loved one, and we remind them that is your – that is a huge role to play, and there’s no handbook for it, but we have resources for you, so you’re not alone in that process.

And, the one thing we really stress is here at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, we recognize the important role of our caregivers and how important they are to the loved one that they’re caring for. So, with that resource-wise, the social work department has a program called Reach for Caregivers, and it’s a hospital-wide program that we offer support groups as well as educational workshops.

And then, in November, being Caregiver Month, we put on a lot of different programs just for our caregivers to know we recognize you, we know you need the support, so here it is. So, in terms of support groups we offer, it’s all online because we know that sometimes, the caregiver is also working outside of the home, so to help meet them where they are, we’ve offered an online support group that they can tap into during their lunch hour, or even after work.

Why You Should Speak Up About Your Prostate Cancer Care

Why You Should Speak Up About Your Prostate Cancer Care from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are the benefits of prostate cancer patients speaking up about their care? Linda Mathew discusses the impact of patients taking an active role in their care.

Linda Mathew is a Senior Clinical Social Worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Learn more here.

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Transcript:

Linda Mathew:

Our medical team is really open about having discussions. So, 1). Our team is not blind to knowing that our patients may want a second opinion just to validate “Hey, is this – do I have all of the information laid out in front of me?”, and we always say it’s like – it’s always good to have that second opinion just to say, “Ah, what’s been told to me is correct, and it goes in line with what I’m reading on the different websites for these places that I’m going to for possible treatment.”

I always tell our patients also that you are your best advocate, so you know what your needs are, and if it means that you need more information before you make a final decision, then do it.

So, if it means talking to other people or going for a second opinion, then go ahead and do that, but I also tell our patients if you’re scared about asking a question, if you’re not – that’s a huge issue. If you’re scared to ask a question to your medical team, that means that, in itself, says, “Hey, is this the right fit?” So, I always encourage our patients, “Our team knows that you want to ask a question. Just go ahead and ask it. You’re not going to embarrass them; you’re not going to embarrass yourself. That’s what your physician and the nurse are there for.”

I think the one thing I would want to stress is that you, the patient, knows themselves. They know what their needs are more so than anybody else, so if that means that you feel like something is missing, then speak up, let us know, and if you don’t feel saying it to the nurse at the moment when you’re in a visit, you can always reach out to the social worker, who can help direct that question back to the team or help you find a way to ask that question either via the portal or an email to the medical team.

Tools for Managing Prostate Cancer Fear and Anxiety

Tools for Managing Prostate Cancer Fear and Anxiety from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Fear and anxiety are common feelings that arise while living with prostate cancer. Social worker Linda Mathew explains how she helps patients improve quality of life while living with prostate cancer.

Linda Mathew is a Senior Clinical Social Worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Learn more here.

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Transcript:

Linda Mathew:

The common fears and worries that they have are – form the support group itself, the main ones that we always hear are the incontinence and erectile dysfunction. So, we really focus on what that means for them as men because it is their manhood, and their biggest concern is “No one told me I was going to have incontinence for this long. I thought it was going to end after a couple months of recuperation from surgery.”

And, we remind them your body has just gone through a shock in terms of having a prostatectomy, and so, it’s your body having to realign and remember what to do again in terms of taking care of itself. Just the same way as in erectile dysfunction, that is possible after having a prostate surgery – prostatectomy, so we remind them there are resources we have here to help address sexual health. So, I am obviously going to refer our patients to our men’s sexual health clinic, which is run by Dr. Mulhall and his team. So, those are the two areas that they really bring up, and it’s also in terms of “Can I have a relationship?” if they’re single, or “How do I let my significant other know that I’m having these issues?”

And, I always – I’m always encouraging our patients “Let’s talk about how to have that conversation if you’re scared of having it. What does that look like for you? What do you think is the worst thing that would be said to you? Let’s approach it from that end in terms of saying here’s some tools for you to have that discussion with your significant other.”

I start off with validating their feelings. I think that’s really important for our male population, is just that it’s okay to feel anxious, and anxiety is real, and with this population, PSA anxiety is very real. So, it’s going in for those three-month checkups to say, “How is my PSA doing? Am I in the right track?”, and just giving them that validation like, “It’s normal. What you’re feeling is normal.”

It relieves a lot of their anxiety because then, they’re thinking, “Okay, I’m not the crazy one here. Yes, what I’m going through – this uncertain journey that I’m on – everyone’s feeling this, no matter what the diagnosis is.” And then, I just – we talk about what it means for them, like what does this cancer diagnosis mean for them. Most of our men are always like – they want something that can be like there’s a solution-oriented process to it, and there’s no solution-oriented process to this, so it’s about how do you sit in that ambiguity, that uncertainty of this journey, and what can you do for yourself that you feel like you’re in control of?

So, for our prostate cancer patients, knowing that there are other people out there that they can talk to is a relief for them, that they’re able to know that there might be a group of men who can say, “Hey, I was there right where you were when I was initially diagnosed in terms of anxiety, in terms of not knowing how to make a decision about treatment plans or treatment options, but maybe my two cents can help you.”

A lot of patients that come to my support group, which is through the Resources for Life After Cancer program, really find that connection helpful because you’ve been given so much information, and you’re feeling overwhelmed by “How do I make this choice – a good choice – for myself?”, connecting with other men who’ve been given the same options, and made a decision, and see where they are now in treatment helps release – decrease the anxiety, but also gives them some relief in terms of not feeling like there’s pressure to how to choose the right answer, or the right recommendation, or the right treatment plan.

How Can a Prostate Cancer Social Worker Help You?

How Can a Prostate Cancer Social Worker Help You? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

How can a prostate cancer social worker help patients and their families? Linda Mathew, a senior social worker, shares how she provides support for patients and their loved ones after diagnosis, during treatment, and beyond.

Linda Mathew is a Senior Clinical Social Worker at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Learn more here.

See more from The Pro-Active Prostate Cancer Patient Toolkit

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Caregiver Support: Taking Care of YOU

 


Transcript:

Linda Mathew:

Hi, I’m Linda Mathew, and I am a senior social worker here at MSK. I am a supervisor in the Department of Social Work, but I also have a service, and I work with the urology service, so, both medicine and surgical patients.

 And, really, it’s just – I’m here as clinical support to our patients in terms of individual counseling, couples counseling, family counseling.

So, what we really do is we provide supportive counseling to our patients. So, in terms of when we say “supportive counseling,” if patients are anxious, or have some depression around the diagnosis, or have just fears around what that – what it means to have a cancer diagnosis and the uncertainty about what that journey will look like, they are referred to me to just process that out loud in terms of questions about themselves and how – how are they going to manage a diagnosis if they’re going to be on chemotherapy or questions about how to support their family around this diagnosis if they don’t even know how to have this conversation with their family.

Most times, if it’s a couple that come in, it’s around how do I support the patient as well as the caregiver through the trajectory of this patient’s treatment. So, the patient is dealing with their own diagnosis and treatment and what all that means, and the caregiver is also having a parallel process with this where they are caring for the loved one, but also have their own fears about “How do I navigate being a support to them? I don’t know what it means to be a caregiver for somebody who’s going through medical treatment.”

So, we help slow that down for them and say, “These are the things that you need to look out for. Just – you are their extra advocate. You are that person – their eyes, their ears – when they are not able to call the doctor’s office to be able to say, ‘I can call the doctor’s office with this information. Just tell me what you want me to say.’”

But, you’re also just there as a support, so it’s a really weird kind of…reminding our patients the tools that they already have, but because they feel like they’re in a crisis, they forget what those tools are.                

Please don’t feel like you have to figure this out on your own. Your medical team is here for you, social work is here for you, we have an ancillary service – like, services available in terms of the men’s sexual health clinic integrated medicine counseling venture, all in terms of supporting our patients. So, when in doubt – and, if you don’t know who to turn to, just turn to your social worker and ask them. Say, “I need help,” and we’ll guide you through it.

What Do Prostate Cancer Patients Need to Know About COVID-19?

What Do Prostate Cancer Patients Need to Know About COVID-19? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

Due to COVID-19, many patients with prostate cancer must follow new guidelines to receive care. Dr. Alicia Morgans, a hematology and oncology specialist, explains precautions patients should take and the role telemedicine plays in prostate cancer care.

Dr. Alicia Morgans is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

See more from The Pro-Active Prostate Cancer Patient Toolkit

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Are You Prepared for Your Prostate Cancer Appointment? Expert Tips

Prostate Cancer Research News

Prostate Cancer Treatment Decisions: Which Path is Best for YOU?

 


Transcript:

Dr. Alicia Morgans:

Men with prostate cancer, like every patient with cancer, do need to take precautions because of COVID, but the degree of caution that they need to take really depends on a couple of factors. One is probably that individual’s age, with older people being more susceptible to having severe complications related to COVID, especially if they have other medical conditions like COPD or lung disease or heart disease with a history of things like heart attack or stents in the heart. Things like diabetes can even increase the risk of having complications, according to some studies, for people with cancer. So, these are things to think about. Comorbid illness and certainly advancing age.

The other thing that I always think about is what kind of therapy are you getting as a man with prostate cancer? Are you getting something that really is only affecting hormones, like lowering testosterone levels or blocking testosterone signaling? That’s the male hormone. Hormonal treatments don’t suppress a person’s immune system. So, they don’t change the way that an individual’s immune system can attack the COVID virus and protect them from that illness. And those kinds of treatments are not as dangerous to use in a pandemic like we’re experiencing now, because they don’t affect a person’s ability – their innate and normal ability – to fight off the disease.

Things like chemotherapy, on the other hand, do suppress the immune system. They make it difficult for the immune system to fight things like that SARS virus, SARS-CoV-2, that causes COVID-19, because it suppresses the immune system such that a patient can’t mount the normal response that he would have against that virus if it came into his body.

When we don’t have an immune system, we can be more susceptible to things like that SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, but we can be susceptible to things that we would find in our normal environment and sometimes even to infections from bacteria that live in our body all the time. So, things like chemotherapy can be challenging whenever you take them. They can be incredibly effective against cancer. And so, it’s always this trade-off.

And if it’s recommended to you, you can get it safely, but taking extra precautions with, of course, washing hands, wearing masks, but also, probably, really still socially distancing even though some of the restrictions in most of the United States have lessened. If you’re on chemotherapy, I would still recommend social distancing and staying out of public places, because you do not necessarily have the immune system that you would normally have to protect yourself from the virus.

Telemedicine has been great for men with prostate cancer when they don’t necessarily need to come in to be seen. This can be really helpful, especially between visits where people are getting injections that they get to lower testosterone as androgen deprivation therapy. If that injection is due every three months or four months, but your doctor wants to check in on you every six weeks or eight weeks, having a telemedicine visit at that interim visit can be really useful so you don’t have to come all the way into the clinic to see the provider.

They can even be useful if you do need to get the injection or you do need to get lab work, because you can get those procedures and then go home and still be safe not sitting in a waiting room, not sitting in a doctor room. And the doctor can usually call and have that telemedicine visit.

For men who have been treated and are simply having their PSA followed because they’ve had a prostate surgery or have had radiation to the prostate and are believed to be cured, as long as they can get that lab work done, the telemedicine visit gives them the opportunity to get the guidance of their doctor who has looked at their lab work, without actually going in to see that doctor in person and potentially put themselves at risk of getting an infection in the in the clinic or the hospital setting.

So, telemedicine is a way for us to really protect our patients and stay engaged while we’re not seeing them in person. But it is still important to do the telemedicine and not just say I’m not going to do anything. And it will be important at some points for many men with prostate cancer to come in at least to do lab work or to get their injections if that’s part of their treatment plan to make sure that they are still being monitored despite the pandemic.

Prostate Cancer Research News

Prostate Cancer Research News from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

Are there developments in prostate cancer research that patients should know about? Dr. Alicia Morgans discusses highlights from the 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.

Dr. Alicia Morgans is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

See more from The Pro-Active Prostate Cancer Patient Toolkit

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Prostate Cancer Treatment Decisions: Which Path is Best for YOU?

 


Transcript:

Dr. Alicia Morgans:

Just recently in June, ASCO, which is our American Society of Clinical Oncology, meeting was held here in Chicago, and it was a virtual meeting. It was actually very exciting for people who take care of prostate cancer and for men who have prostate cancer in several advances. Some of those advances were around imaging and new strategies that we’re going to have, I think, in the relatively near future using PSMA-targeted imaging for men who have prostate cancer that is high-risk before they go through things like surgery or radiation, or for men who have a rising PSA after they’ve had their initial treatment for prostate cancer.

We also learned the survival data that was associated with three agents that we now have to treat non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. And this is prostate cancer where we have had a group of men who have already had treatment of their prostate, but now have a rising PSA blood level despite having imaging that doesn’t really show any areas of cancer on the scans. And there are three drugs that we have to use for men with this particular stage of prostate cancer, or state of prostate cancer, and we learned that those drugs not only prolong the time until men develop metastatic disease or disease that we can see on those scans, but they also help men live longer.

And this tells us that if we move those therapies earlier on in the stage of treating prostate cancer, we can actually, probably bend the curve of that man’s survival for the rest of his life. Intervening early, at our earliest opportunity, in this particular situation may be so helpful for men over the rest of their journey, no matter what their next treatments might be.

And finally, we learned information about a drug called lutetium, which is not yet approved for the treatment of prostate cancer, but was tested in a clinical trial for men with more advanced prostate cancer and called metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. And we learned that this drug can be both tolerable and potentially as effective, or perhaps more effective, than the chemotherapy that we have traditionally used in this state. So, lutetium is a drug that we expect will eventually be approved for the treatment of prostate cancer, pending some clinical trial data that we are still waiting for. And that was real exciting, to learn about the upcoming advances with this particular drug.      

Why You Should Consider a Prostate Cancer Clinical Trial

Why You Should Consider a Prostate Cancer Clinical Trial from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

Dr. Alicia Morgans, a hematology and oncology specialist, explains the importance of prostate cancer patients of different geographic locations participating in clinical trials and the role trials plays in clinical care.

Dr. Alicia Morgans is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

See more from The Pro-Active Prostate Cancer Patient Toolkit

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Are You Prepared for Your Prostate Cancer Appointment? Expert Tips

Prostate Cancer Research News

Prostate Cancer Treatment Decisions: Which Path is Best for YOU?

 


Transcript:

Dr. Alicia Morgans:

From my perspective, I think any time in a prostate cancer journey is a great time to think about a clinical trial if that trial is available where you live or is available at a place where you would be willing to travel. We have so much to learn about prostate cancer, about how to continue to provide options to patients, and about how to support men as they go through their treatment. And the only way we can learn those things is if men participate in clinical trials. So importantly, also, we need to have men of diverse backgrounds of diverse races from geographic diversity.

Because if we only study certain people from the city of Chicago, for example, where I live, we’ll really only know what we know about those men. And we won’t necessarily know if we can apply our findings to men who live in Atlanta and are Black. It’s going to be the kind of thing where we have the data, but we don’t necessarily know if it’s going to be the right data for you.

So, the more men of color, the more men from different geographic locations that we can encourage to participate in clinical trials, the more we learn for every patient and the more we are able to take care of the specific and unique needs of you as an individual, which is really a critical part of what we do and why we do what we do. So, participating in clinical trials, no matter who you are, if you’re able, and if you’re willing, is really a great service to you to get, hopefully, better outcomes for you, but also a great service to your community of men with prostate cancer.  

Prostate Cancer Treatment Decisions: Which Path is Best for YOU?

Prostate Cancer Treatment Decisions: Which Path is Best for YOU? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

Which prostate cancer treatment path is best for you? Dr. Alicia Morgans discusses how multiple factors, including disease progression and patient goals, determine which treatment path is best to help improve a patient’s outcome and overall quality of life. 

Dr. Alicia Morgans is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

See more from The Pro-Active Prostate Cancer Patient Toolkit

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What Do Prostate Cancer Patients Need to Know About COVID-19?

Prostate Cancer Research News

How Does Prostate Cancer Staging Affect Treatment Approaches?

 


Transcript:

Dr. Alicia Morgans:

The main factors I think about when approaching a treatment plan for a patient is to understand is this treatment for cure. Are we able to cure this patient? Is that our goal? Or are we in a situation where we know that the cancer is going to be incurable, but we can prolong that individual’s life and improve the quality of life that he has?

That is a major breakdown or separation point in how we approach treatment. Once we figure that out, we can try to sort through among all the choices. If we’re going to use curative treatment to the prostate itself, what do we think is best for you as an individual man? And what do we think is possible from a medical perspective? Whether that’s radiation or surgery or even just watching and waiting with an active surveillance plan, there may be choices.

And similarly, with metastatic prostate cancer or advanced prostate cancer that’s incurable or not able to be cured, what are the medical treatments that we can use? And what are the choices that you as a man with prostate cancer want to make to really maximize your benefit – thinking through what’s important to you? What barriers do you have? And how do you want to go through your treatment sequence?

We’re actually really fortunate in prostate cancer care to have many choices, whether it’s in treating localized curable prostate cancer or in treating metastatic prostate cancer that we’re really trying to treat to prolong life and improve quality of life. In each setting, in most cases, there are multiple choices to make along the journey. Sometimes these choices would exclude other choices in the future, but sometimes they don’t. Sometimes you can choose A or B, because in a few months, you’re going to have the opposite option available to you. So, exactly what your choices are going to be are going to be important for you to speak with your doctor about.

But having those choices really empowers men to get engaged in each of these treatment decisions to explain this is my preference for that side effect or this particular toxicity, and I’m going to choose this treatment, because it works best for me because I can get to work or because it doesn’t lead to incontinence or because it doesn’t cause me to lose my hair or whatever the reason is. Men’s preferences can be so importantly incorporated into the treatment decision, because we have all the choices we have in treating prostate cancer.

How Does Prostate Cancer Staging Affect Treatment Approaches?

How Does Prostate Cancer Staging Affect Treatment Approaches? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo

Every stage of prostate cancer stage requires different treatment approaches. Dr. Alicia Morgans explains prostate cancer staging and how it impacts treat options.

Dr. Alicia Morgans is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

See more from The Pro-Active Prostate Cancer Patient Toolkit

Related Resources

 

What Do Prostate Cancer Patients Need to Know About COVID-19?

Prostate Cancer Research News

Prostate Cancer Treatment Decisions: Which Path is Best for YOU?

 


Transcript:

Dr. Alicia Morgans:

Staging in prostate cancer is a way for people to understand how to best approach the treatment of the disease. To say this a different way, low stages – things like Stage I, II, and usually Stage III – can be treated with local therapies to the prostate itself with a goal of trying to cure the prostate cancer. And some patients who have Stage I disease may not even need active treatment, but could be followed on active surveillance as a way to monitor the cancer and prevent side-effects by simply monitoring until it would actually need treatment. Higher stage, like Stage IV, means that the cancer has spread outside of the prostate.

And it’s still prostate cancer. It just is cancer cells from the prostate that now live in the bones, or live in distant lymph nodes, or live in another organ or place in the body. Those cancer cells are still treated the exact same way we treat prostate cancer in terms of the medical therapies – the injections, the pills, the chemo agents potentially – that we would use to treat those cancer cells, whether they’re in the bones or in the prostate. But when they have spread outside of prostate, that typically means that there’s no longer an opportunity for us to cure that cancer. And we wouldn’t necessarily use things like surgery or radiation to the prostate if the cancer had spread.

I say “wouldn’t necessarily,” because that is certainly an area that’s evolving. And now even men with metastatic prostate cancer or Stage IV prostate cancer can be treated with radiation, in particular, to the prostate, and we know that can be beneficial. So, staging helps us understand how far the cancer has spread or not spread.

And it helps us understand if we can treat that patient with local treatments to the prostate to try to cure them, or if we need to use medical therapies as a major backbone of treatment rather than things like radiation or surgery to treat them for prolonging their life and improving quality of life but knowing that we can’t cure their disease.