Switch to Oral Antibiotics Noninferior in Low-Risk Staph Bloodstream Infections
An early switch to oral antibiotics in patients hospitalized with low-risk Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection was noninferior to IV antibiotics, according to the randomized controlled SABATO trial. In the trial’s intention-to-treat population, 13% of patients who switched to oral antibiotics developed complications related to S. aureus bloodstream infection (SAB) versus 12% in the group that […]
Is Omitting Radiation Therapy in Low-Risk Breast Cancer a Good IDEA?
SAN ANTONIO — Postmenopausal women with genomically low-risk early hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer had a low risk of recurrence with endocrine therapy alone after lumpectomy, a randomized trial showed. The 5-year overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates were 100% without adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) in 186 women ages 50-69 followed for at […]
Should Older Prostate Cancer Patients Jump Off the Active Surveillance Train?
Come December, as I observe my “pros-mitzvah” — 13 years on active surveillance (AS) for very low-risk prostate cancer — I feel I’m at a tipping point. Should I stay the course and keep monitoring my lesion — a single Gleason 6 of less than 1 mm seen back in 2010 and never again in […]
Prostate Cancer Is Not Just an ‘Old Man’s Disease’
Gabe Canales’ experience with low-risk prostate cancer nearly matches mine — with a couple of caveats, including a 27-year difference in the ages at which we were both diagnosed. I was 62 years old with a rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, close to the average age of diagnosis. Canales was just 35. Canales, author of […]
Use of Active Surveillance in Prostate Cancer on the Rise, but Highly Variable
While use of active surveillance for the management of low-risk prostate cancer has increased in the U.S., it still varies widely both at the practitioner level and even within urology practices, according to a cohort study. Looking at over 20,000 patients included in a quality reporting registry, the rate of active surveillance increased “sharply and […]
If It Resembles Cancer but Doesn’t Act Like Cancer, Is It Cancer?
In January 2021, a movement to redefine low-risk Gleason 6 lesions as noncancers or precancers made its debut in this blog under the headline: “Is This Really Cancer?” Urologic oncologist Scott Eggener, MD, vice chair of urology at University of Chicago Medicine, threw down the gauntlet, saying Gleason 6 lesions may resemble cancers, but don’t […]
A Fork in the Road on My ‘Cancer Journey’
For the past 12 years, I have been focused on my diagnosis of low-risk prostate cancer, and in 2016, I began sharing my experience and covering the latest developments in the field in my “A Patient’s Journey” blog for MedPage Today. But in recent months, a few events reminded me that prostate cancer isn’t my […]
Surveillance for Prostate Cancer Is on the Rise — Do Men Stick It Out?
While the uptake of active surveillance (AS) for low-risk prostate cancer has increased over time, about half of patients eventually discontinue this strategy, according to an observational Canadian population-based study. The use of AS increased from 38% in 2008 to 69% in 2014; however, over this study period, 50.8% of patients discontinued AS and proceeded […]