Plain language summary: Does the amount of time it takes for prostate-specific antigen to double affect how long men with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer live and their healthcare costs?

What Is This Summary About?: This is a plain language summary of a research article originally published in . The original article described the effect of rapidly rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels on how long men with a type of advanced prostate cancer live and their healthcare costs. The prostate is a part of the male body that helps make semen.

External control arms: COVID-19 reveals the merits of using real world evidence in real-time for clinical and public health investigations.

Randomized controlled trials are considered the 'gold standard' to reduce bias by randomizing patients to an experimental intervention, versus placebo or standard of care cohort. There are inherent challenges to enrolling a standard of care or cohorts: costs, site engagement logistics, socioeconomic variability, patient willingness, ethics of placebo interventions, cannibalizing the treatment arm population, and extending study duration. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified aspects of constraints in trial recruitment and logistics, spurring innovative approaches to reducing trial sizes, accelerating trial accrual while preserving statistical rigor.

Survival and Economic Impact of Rapid Prostate-Specific Antigen Doubling Time in Patients With Nonmetastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.

Introduction: In patients with nonmetastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC), prostate-specific antigen doubling time (PSADT) is associated with risk of metastasis and survival. This study evaluated the association of PSADT with clinical and economic outcomes in a real-world setting among patients with nmCRPC not receiving novel hormonal therapy (NHT), using 2-month PSADT thresholds.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively identified Veterans Health Administration patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer and ≥2 PSA increases after medical/surgical castration (2012-2016).

Does race make a difference in how long men with advanced prostate cancer live when treated with abiraterone or enzalutamide?

What Is This Summary About?: This is a summary of a research article originally published in . There were few Black men in the clinical trials that led to the approval of the medications abiraterone and enzalutamide. Abiraterone and enzalutamide are the two most commonly used drugs to treat men with advanced prostate cancer that has progressed on traditional hormonal therapy.

Temporal Changes in Cholangiocarcinoma Incidence and Mortality in the United States from 2001 to 2017.

Background: Previous studies report increasing cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) incidence up to 2015. This contemporary retrospective analysis of CCA incidence and mortality in the US from 2001-2017 assessed whether CCA incidence continued to increase beyond 2015.

Patients And Methods: Patients (≥18 years) with CCA were identified in the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 18 cancer registry (International Classification of Disease for Oncology [ICD-O]-3 codes: intrahepatic [iCCA], C221; extrahepatic [eCCA], C240, C241, C249).