Quality-of-life outcomes from the Prostate Adenocarcinoma: TransCutaneous Hormones (PATCH) trial evaluating luteinising hormone-releasing hormone agonists versus transdermal oestradiol for androgen suppression in advanced prostate cancer.

Objectives: To compare quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes at 6 months between men with advanced prostate cancer receiving either transdermal oestradiol (tE2) or luteinising hormone-releasing hormone agonists (LHRHa) for androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT).

Patients And Methods: Men with locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer participating in an ongoing randomised, multicentre UK trial comparing tE2 versus LHRHa for ADT were enrolled into a QoL sub-study. tE2 was delivered via three or four transcutaneous patches containing oestradiol 100 μg/24 h.

A Randomised Comparison Evaluating Changes in Bone Mineral Density in Advanced Prostate Cancer: Luteinising Hormone-releasing Hormone Agonists Versus Transdermal Oestradiol.

Background: Luteinising hormone-releasing hormone agonists (LHRHa), used as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in prostate cancer (PCa) management, reduce serum oestradiol as well as testosterone, causing bone mineral density (BMD) loss. Transdermal oestradiol is a potential alternative to LHRHa.

Objective: To compare BMD change in men receiving either LHRHa or oestradiol patches (OP).

Contemporary hormone therapy with LHRH agonists for prostate cancer: avoiding osteoporosis and fracture.

Introduction: Prostate cancer is a large clinical burden across Europe. It is, in fact, the most common cancer in males, accounting for more than 92,300 deaths annually throughout the continent. Prostate cancer is androgen-sensitive; thus an androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is often used for treatment by reducing androgen to castrate levels.

Cardiovascular outcomes in patients with locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer treated with luteinising-hormone-releasing-hormone agonists or transdermal oestrogen: the randomised, phase 2 MRC PATCH trial (PR09).

Background: Luteinising-hormone-releasing-hormone agonists (LHRHa) to treat prostate cancer are associated with long-term toxic effects, including osteoporosis. Use of parenteral oestrogen could avoid the long-term complications associated with LHRHa and the thromboembolic complications associated with oral oestrogen.

Methods: In this multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 2 trial, we enrolled men with locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer scheduled to start indefinite hormone therapy.

Reproducibility of quantitative assessment of altered hepatic hemodynamics with dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

Objectives: The aim of this clinical study was to evaluate the reproducibility of quantitative assessment of altered hepatic hemodynamics with dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

Methods: Fifteen patients with colorectal liver metastases and 5 volunteers were studied. The hepatic artery proper and the portal vein were imaged simultaneously with dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

Anatomically versus biologically unifocal prostate cancer: a pathological evaluation in the context of focal therapy.

Objectives: Since tumor focality in prostate cancer continues to be considered a major limitation for focal prostate therapy, in this study we attempted to compare the pathological features and the proportion of patients with anatomically unifocal versus biologically unifocal tumors (i.e. multifocal prostate cancer in which the secondary nonindex elements are small, low grade and clinically insignificant) who were suitable for focal therapy.

Trends in pathologic outcomes after introduction of active surveillance in the UK: implication for focal therapy.

Background: We aimed to evaluate the trends in pathologic outcomes of clinically localized prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy prior to and after national guidelines placing active surveillance as the primary management in men with low-risk prostate cancer. Further, we examined whether there was a coincident change in the proportion of men potentially suitable for focal therapy.

Methods: All cancer foci in 195 whole mount radical prostatectomy samples during two periods (Period 1: 07/2001-10/2003, n = 100 and Period 2: 01/2007-11/2009, n = 95) were examined.

Margin status after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy and the index lesion: implications for preoperative evaluation of tumor focality in prostate cancer.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of tumor focality on positive surgical margins (PSM) after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.

Patients And Methods: Ninety-five consecutive whole-mount laparoscopic radical prostatectomy samples (January 2007 to November 2009) were evaluated for tumor focality, laterality, Gleason score, and volume of individual foci, total tumor volume, pathologic stage, and surgical margin status.

Results: Thirty-nine percent, 36%, and 25% were in low, intermediate, and high D'Amico risk categories.

Focal therapy for prostate cancer: opportunities and uncertainties.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer-related death in men. Screening with prostate specific antigen (PSA) has led to a clinical and pathological stage migration such that currently most men diagnosed with prostate cancer have clinically localized disease potentially offering opportunity for curative intervention. On the other hand, the benefit of radical therapy in terms of reducing overall mortality in PSA-screened populations has been controversial with concerns being raised about over-diagnosis and over-treatment.

Tumor focality in prostate cancer: implications for focal therapy.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in focal treatment for prostate cancer. Although widely used for the treatment of tumors of the breast and kidney, focal treatment for prostate cancer remains a controversial area. Criticism of focal prostate therapy has been based on the fact that prostate cancer is a multifocal disease.

Survival of patients with bladder cancer from a UK hospital: a 10-year follow-up study.

Objective: To compare 10-year overall (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) of a cohort of consecutively presenting patients with bladder cancer of all pT categories from one UK institution.

Patients And Methods: Data were collected on 144 patients with newly diagnosed bladder tumours presenting from 1983 to 1985 followed up for 10 years. Histological variables were reviewed by one pathologist who had no knowledge of the clinical details.

Early hormonal data from a multicentre phase II trial using transdermal oestrogen patches as first-line hormonal therapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer.

Objective: To assess the hormonal effects of Fem7 (Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany) 100 microg transdermal oestrogen patches on men undergoing first-line androgen-deprivation therapy for prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: PATCH is a multicentre, randomized, phase II trial for men with locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer, comparing luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonist therapy with oestrogen patches. To assess the dosing schedule for the patches, as this was the first time that this brand of patch had been used in men, and to reassure patients and participating clinicians, the Independent Data Monitoring Committee agreed to early release of hormonal data from this study.

Design and development of a prototype endocavitary probe for high-intensity focused ultrasound delivery with integrated magnetic resonance imaging.

Purpose: To integrate a high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) transducer with an MR receiver coil for endocavitary MR-guided thermal ablation of localized pelvic lesions.

Materials And Methods: A hollow semicylindrical probe (diameter 3.2 cm) with a rectangular upper surface (7.

Changes in vascular flow after transdermal oestradiol therapy for prostate cancer: a mechanism for cardiovascular toxicity and benefit?

Objective: To report the influence of transdermal oestradiol therapy on the vascular dynamics of men with advanced prostate cancer.

Patients And Methods: Twenty patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer (10 each) were treated using transdermal oestradiol patches. The vascular flow was assessed 6-monthly before and during a year of therapy using arterial and venous Doppler and duplex ultrasonography, arterial and venous photoplethysmography and opto-electronic plethysmography.