“Every year nearly 200,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa), and another 29,000 men succumb to the disease.”
Dear Cancer Coach-My PSA has increased over the past year from 4.5- 7.5. I am nervous about having prostate cancer and I am waiting to have a needle biopsy of my prostate.
I recently had a rectal ultrasound, and have a 7mm nodule found . Don’t know the significance of this right now , but do know my PSA is up to 7.5 . The ultrasound report stated a recommendation for biopsy . But still I wait.
Incidently , my age is 68 , but am considered young as I worked in construction most of my life .
If you have any input , would be most appreciated- CJ
Dear CJ-
While I’m sure your wait is frustrating, the results of your rectal ultrasound (a 7mm nodule), according to research, is not that bad. 7mm equals 9/32 of an inch. That is a little more than a quarter of an inch. As you will see in the illustration linked below, the average prostate gland is about the size of a walnut. As I mentioned a couple of emails ago, most men over 50 have nodules in their prostate.
To be sure, it is important to undergo diagnostic testing prescribed by your doctor. Further, in my experience as both a long-term cancer survivor and cancer coach, undergoing the best of both conventional/traditional PCa therapies, when appropriate, as well as the best of evidence-based, non-conventional, non-traditional PCa therapies should result in the best of both quality and quantity of life.
Consider undergoing evidence-based, non-toxic therapy to try to reduce your PSA. Will you wait for a needle biopsy? I will link anti-oxidant therapies below- green tea extract, curcumin vitamin D3 and milk thistle along with studies that show how these therapies are cytotoxic (kill) to prostate cancer. I take all four of these supplements myself and my PSA is .8. I am 56. If you like what you read I can recommend the brands and doses that I take. It’s up to you. These supplements are relatively inexpensive- I buy mine on amazon.com. Let me know what you think.
David Emerson
- Cancer Survivor
- Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
“Prostate Tests
- Digital rectal examination (DRE): A doctor inserts a lubricated, gloved finger into the rectum and feels the prostate. A DRE can sometimes detect an enlarged prostate, lumps or nodules of prostate cancer, or tenderness from prostatitis.
- Prostate-specific antigen (PSA): The prostate makes a protein called PSA, which can be measured by a blood test. If PSA is high, prostate cancer is more likely, but an enlarged prostate can also cause a high PSA. Recommendations about whether or not a man should be screened and at what age differ. Talk with your doctor about whether you need testing and the potential benefits and risks.
- Prostate ultrasound (transrectal ultrasound): An ultrasound probe is inserted into the rectum, bringing it close to the prostate. Ultrasound is often done with a biopsy to test for prostate cancer.
- Prostate biopsy: A needle is inserted into the prostate to take tissue out to check for prostate cancer. This is usually done through the rectum.
Prostate Cancer Treatment
- Prostatectomy: Surgery for prostate cancer, called a prostatectomy, removes the prostate with the goal of removing all the cancer.
- Radiation therapy: Radiation kills prostate cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy cells.
- Radioactive seed implants: Instead of radiation pointed at the prostate from outside the body, radioactive seeds can be implanted into the prostate to kill cancer cells.
- Cryotherapy: Cryotherapy involves killing prostate cancer cells by freezing them.
- Hormone therapy: Prostate cancer cells grow in response to hormones. Hormone therapy helps block that effect.
- Chemotherapy: When prostate cancer is advanced, chemotherapy may help reduce the cancer’s spread.
- Watchful waiting: Since prostate cancer is often slow growing, some older men and their doctors hold off on treatment and wait to see if the cancer appears to be growing.
- Clinical trials: Through prostate cancer clinical trials, researchers test the effects of new medications on a group of volunteers with prostate cancer.
“Every year nearly 200,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa), and another 29,000 men succumb to the disease. Within certain regions of the world population based studies have identified a possible role for green tea in the prevention of certain cancers, especially PCa.
One constituent in particular, epigallocatechin-3-gallate also known as EGCG has been shown in cell culture models to decrease cell viability and promote apoptosis in multiple cancer cell lines including PCa with no effect on non-cancerous cell lines.
In addition, animal models have consistently shown that standardized green tea polyphenols when administered in drinking water delay the development and progression of PCa. Altogether, three clinical trials have been performed in PCa patients and suggest that green tea may have a distinct role as a chemopreventive agent.
This review will present the available data for standardized green tea polyphenols in regard to PCa chemoprevention that will include epidemiological, mechanism based studies, safety, pharmacokinetics, and applicable clinical trials. The data that has been collected so far suggests that green tea may be a promising agent for PCa chemoprevention and further clinical trials of participants at risk of PCa or early stage PCa are warranted…”
“Prostate cancer possesses the highest occurrence rate and is the second-paramount disease that causes cancer-affiliated death among men in the United States. Approximately 30,000 men die each year of castration-resistant prostate cancer due to the inevitable progression of resistance to first-line treatment with docetaxel.
The safety profile of dietary curcumin in humans has been well-documented, and its therapeutic prospect in treating prostate cancer, especially for castration-resistant prostate cancer, has been evidenced in several cell culture systems and human xenograft mouse models.
The critical disadvantage of curcumin as a drug candidate is its low bioavailability caused by poor water solubility and rapid in vivo metabolism. Curcumin is characteristic of regulating multiple targets, representing a good example for the philosophy to search for multitargeted drugs in the realm of drug design and drug development. This feature, together with its potential in treating castration-resistant prostate cancer and its safety profile, enables curcumin to serve as an ideal lead compound for the design and syntheses of curcumin-based agents with improved potential for the clinical therapies of prostate cancer. Several researches aiming to improve its bioavailability and potency resulted in the discovery and development of a wealth of curcumin-based compounds with an enhanced anticancer potential and/or an improved pharmacokinetic profile.
This review starts with a brief summarization of the prospect of curcumin in treating prostate cancer and its mechanisms of action, then provides an in-depth overview of current development of curcumin-based anti-prostate cancer agents and their structure-activity relationships, and ends with the syntheses and pharmacokinetic studies of curcumin…”
