Should HIV patients be considered a high risk group for the development of prostate cancer?

Introduction: Only very few case reports exist regarding the incidence of prostate cancer in younger HIV-infected patients.

Patients And Methods: Two incidences of HIV-infected men diagnosed with prostate cancer, from a cohort of about 200 men treated at St George's Hospital aged 40 years or more are reported.

Discussion: On the basis of the evidence presented in both case reports and from the literature, clinicians should be aware that men with HIV infection should be considered a high-risk group for prostate cancer, and consider early PSA screening.

Delayed disease progression after allogeneic cell vaccination in hormone-resistant prostate cancer and correlation with immunologic variables.

Purpose: There are a significant number of patients with asymptomatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer who have increasing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels but little or no evaluable disease. The immunogenicity and minimal toxicity associated with cell-based vaccine therapy makes this approach attractive for these patients.

Experimental Design: We have evaluated a vaccine comprising monthly intradermal injection of three irradiated allogeneic prostate cell lines (8 x 10(6) cells each) over 1 year.

Sticks and stones: use of acupuncture in extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy.

Background And Purpose: Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) is an effective noninvasive, outpatient method of stone clearance. In our unit, it is performed using a combination of oral analgesia and intravenous sedation, which allows us to treat to therapeutic levels in the vast majority of our patients. However, we have encountered patients who do not tolerate various elements of the analgesia protocol and thus cannot be treated to full effect.

Do patients expect too much from extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy?

Background: The era of patient-focused care has brought a new dimension to medical treatment. Now, as well as looking for therapies that work effectively, they must also be acceptable to patients. Previous studies in this department have shown that stone clearance rates with lithotripsy compare favourably with national standards, but very little work has been done regarding patient's own perception of the experience.