Satraplatin curbs hormone-refractory prostate cancer

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Combination treatment with satraplatin and prednisone appears to increase progression-free survival in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC), according to findings published in the November issue of BJU International.

Dr. Cora N. Sternberg of San Camillo and Forlanini Hospitals, Rome, Italy notes that because of limitations of current therapies, there is a significant need for new treatments for patients with HRPC. One agent that shows promise is satraplatin, "a third-generation, orally bioavailable platinum analogue."

So far the drug has been used in trials involving more than 600 patients for both first and second-line treatment of HRPC. Results have shown that combined satraplatin and prednisone led to a significant increase in progression-free survival and a numerical increase in overall survival. Toxicity levels were acceptable.

On the basis of these encouraging findings, a multicenter, multinational phase III placebo-controlled trial has been launched to compare satraplatin with prednisone to prednisone alone as second-line HRPC therapy. Patients given the combination will also receive the anti-emetic granisetron.

Target enrollment for this trial, which involves 137 active clinical sites worldwide, is 912 patients.

Trio of Factors Predicts Risk of Death Following "Biochemical Recurrence

A study conducted at Johns Hopkins has identified 3 clinical factors that identify a man's risk of dying from prostate cancer after a "biochemical recurrence" of his disease.

A Biochemical recurrence refers to a rising pros- tate-specific antigen (PSA) level after prostate cancer treatment. As many as one third of men who undergo radical prostatectomy will experience a biochemical recurrence within 10 years of surgery.

Until now, however, prostate cancer specialists have had little information to guide them on how aggres- sively to treat these recurrences. The current research offers doctors a tool they can use to determine which

PROSTATE CANCER PATIENT SUPPORT 1 800 80 Us TOO

EXERCISE IMPROVES SEXUAL FUNCTION AFTER PROSTATE CANCER RADIOTHERAPY

Increased physical activity after external beam radiotherapy for prostate cancer results in better sexual functioning, according to a report in the May 2005 issue of Urology (Vol. 65, pp. 953-8). Physical activity preserves the sexual functioning of older men, the authors point out, but whether physical activity influences sexual functioning after treatment for localized prostate cancer is unknown. To investigate, Dr. Jason R. Dahn and colleagues from University of Miami examined possible associations among treatment procedure, physical activity, and sexual functioning in 111 men who were treated with radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer.

Overall, physical activity was inde- pendently related to sexual func- tioning, the authors report. The association was especially strong among men who received external beam radiotherapy, whereas physical activity did not significantly affect sexual functioning among men who received brachytherapy and combination treatment. Sexual functioning was also nega- tively associated with participant age and medical comorbidity and posi- tively associated with higher urinary and bowel functioning scores. "The level of physical activity contributes independently to the explanation of variance in sexual func- tioning scores," the investigators conclude, "and physical activity and treatment procedure appeared to interact in such a way that both are required to appreciate fully the differential effect of physical activity on sexual functioning." "A randomized clinical trial assessing these relationships longitudinally in a larger sample," they add, "might provide very useful information."

men need treatment for their recurrence and which men are at a relatively low risk of dying of their dis- ease and can simply be closely monitored.

The researchers devised their predictions by study- ing the outcomes and associated clinical features of 379 men who had experienced a biochemical recur- rence. They found that a combination of 3 variables--- short PSA doubling time, short duration from surgery to recurrence, and high Gleason score---identified the high-risk men who needed aggressive treatment for their recurrence.

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCU TION Volume 294, Page 433, July 27, 2005

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