Annie Quinn In America by Mical Schneider

Each of these significantly impacts the effective management of prostate cancer, and is the subject of investigations in basic research on prostate tumor biology.ĭistinguishing indolent vs. In the case of advanced cancer, these regimens are usually followed or substituted with androgen deprivation therapy, which initially will reduce tumor burden and/or circulating PSA to low or undetectable levels, but ultimately the disease will recur in most cases.Īt present, there are several major clinical challenges associated with this conventional paradigm for prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment. If prostate cancer is diagnosed, conventional treatment regimens include surgical excision of the prostate (radical prostatectomy), or irradiation through external beam therapy or implantation of radioactive “seeds” (brachytherapy). Patients are also diagnosed by the status of their primary tumors, from organ-confined to fully invasive (T1–4), with or without lymph node involvement (N0 or 1), and the presence and degree of distant metastases (M0 and 1a–c) ( Ohori et al.

Following biopsy, histopathological grading of prostate tissue is performed by Gleason scoring, which classifies tumors from 1 to 5 (most to least differentiated) based on their most prevalent architecture, and assigns a combined score that is the sum of the two most common patterns ( Mellinger et al. Men that have elevated PSA levels typically undergo biopsy to assess the potential presence of prostate cancer.

PSA is a kallikrein-related serine protease that is produced in normal prostate secretions, but is released into the blood as a consequence of disruption of normal prostate architecture ( Lilja et al.

However, the availability of a highly accessible blood test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has revolutionized the diagnosis of prostate cancer over the past three decades. Prostate cancer has been recognized as a clinical entity since antiquity, when it was first described by the ancient Egyptians, while surgical procedures to remove the prostate were developed >100 years ago ( Capasso 2005). Major clinical challenges in prostate cancer

Annie Quinn In America by Mical Schneider