MIAMI – According to recent research, metastatic prostate cancer rates are rising among men age 45 and older.
Dr. Sanoj Punnen, a urologist with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer, Center said there’s no question that screening saves lives but in 2012 the US Preventive Services task force recommended against routine screening to potentially avoid unnecessary biopsies.
“We’ve become much, much, smarter about deciding who needs treatment who doesn’t, we watch a lot of men who’s cancers are never going to hurt them and we’ve become better at screening we’ve got better tests such as MRI, blood tests, urine tests, which can determine who’s at risk for a bad cancer and who’s not and avoid those biopsies,” Punnen said.
He said revised recommendations now call for shared decision making between doctor and patient on whether and when to screen for prostate cancer.
And a medication used in a clinical trial is showing some promising results for people with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes abnormal thickening of the heart muscle.
The Cleveland Clinic study found a drug called Mavacamten appears to be an effective form of treatment for those needing an invasive procedure.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy affects between 15 to 20 million people worldwide.