Parp-Inhibitors have long been on AnCan’s radar since our dear departed Boardie, Dr. Bill Burhans, found himself with olaparib in his lab in 2015 and convinced his tumor board to prescribe it along with abiraterone for his BRCA2 mutation.
Question is …
What’s a PARP-Inhibitor, and what does it do?
Who benefits from a PARP?
Do PARP-I’s work for everybody?
How can a PARP-I be used for prostate cancer?
AnCan brings you two experts to discuss. Dr. Pamela Munster of the UCSF BRCA Research Institute with her unique peer perspective, and Dr. Neal Shore who just released the TALAPRO-2 Study using a PARP with Xtandi.
Watch here:
Special thanks to Bayer, Pfizer, Myovant Sciences, Foundation Medicine, Myriad Genetics, Janssen – Johnson & Johnson, Telix, and Blue Earth Diagnostics for sponsoring this webinar.
For information on our peer-led video chat PROSTATE CANCER VIRTUAL SUPPORT GROUPS, click here.
To SIGN UP for any of our Virtual Support groups, visit our Contact Us page.
And when we say free, we mean that in addition to the lesson being free, the supplies will also be free, too!! We are SO happy that we are able to offer this class – especially because it will benefit a community of individuals that is much more in need of mental health benefits than they might realize.
Last day to register is June 19th. We want to make sure everyone receives their supplies on time!
Your instructor, Hannah Garrison, currently works with the VA hospital system in San Antonio, TX, as a creative arts instructor for their psychiatric units. She has been there to witness the incredible mental health benefits of a creative arts practice in the individuals she works with. We’re here to provide space for a community of like-minded individuals. Starting a new hobby can be intimidating, so that’s why we are so happy to be able to provide your supplies completely free.
PLEASE send this class registration to any and all Veterans you know, that may be interested.
We’ll be using watercolors and watercolor pencils! You’ll be receiving everything needed to complete this project in our class time – minus any napkins and water, of course.
Are you a Veteran in need of some virtual support? Whether you have chronic illness, cancer, mental health concerns, etc; we welcome you with open arms. We’re a virtual support group filled with other peers who have a lot of advice and support to offer.
Next meeting is June 22nd at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. Drop in HERE. No need to register.
Looking to make some art a little sooner? We have our next general art class on June 8th at 8pm ET! It’s free, and it’s BYOAS (Bring Your Own Art Supplies). We’re making an acrylic painting on canvas!
Hello friends! In case you missed April’s AnCan Friends Art Class, we wanted to share the recording with our amazing community. This project uses both crayons and watercolors for a crayon wax resist effect! Check it out below:
You’ll need crayons, watercolors, mixed media paper or watercolor paper, and either a round brush or a flat brush. I happened to use a size # 8 round brush.
In case you’re having trouble figuring out what colors to use, you’ll see a few different examples of paintings I’ve done in the past. Mostly I just had fun experimenting with the colors, and I hope you can do the same, too! We’re always so proud of the work that comes out of this class. Happy painting!!!
AnCan Foundation supports several conditions that compromise the pelvic floor as a result of surgery, radiation, or just side effects of the disease itself. It can impact continence and sexual function for all!
A non-interventional rehab solution is pelvic floor physical therapy – a sub-specialty in itself.
Join one of AnCan’s favorite superstars, urologist Dr. Rachel Rubin, and esteemed expert Dr. Tracy Sher. Together, shared how pelvic floor exercises can help you recover function!
You’ll also get a ton of questions answered, asked by MS Moderator Kim Stroeh, and Prostate Cancer moderator Dr. John Antonucci.
Watch here:
Special thanks to Bayer, Pfizer, Myovant Sciences, Foundation Medicine, Myriad Genetics, Janssen – Johnson & Johnson, and Telix for sponsoring this webinar.
Check back later for slides.
For information on our peer-led video chat VIRTUAL SUPPORT GROUPS, click here.
To SIGN UP for any of our Virtual Support groups, visit our Contact Us page.
WEBINAR – ‘The Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers: 13 years Later’: An Evening with Dr. Mark Scholz
By Howard Wolinsky, Peter Kafka and Ben Nathanson
Dr. Mark Scholz, author of Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers, drew a record audience to his AnCan webinar on January 30, 2023.
Registration worldwide was close to 1,000 — nearly double the previous record — with more than 600 watching live.
Scholz’s talk, “Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers: 13 years later” discussed how prostate cancer treatment — and overtreatment — has progressed since the book’s original publication in 2010. The book took aim at a urological-industrial complex performing surgeries on hundreds of thousands of low-risk patients, leaving many impotent and incontinent.
Half those men, he argued, could safely have been followed without aggressive treatment. Scholz, a medical oncologist, coauthored the book with patient Ralph Blum. A new edition was issued in 2021.
While urologists today still unnecessarily “snatch” prostates, Scholz said, the number is far fewer since active surveillance was endorsed in 2007 as a safe and effective strategy. And he said radiation therapy, which he had criticized in the past, also has become safer and more effective.
Still, men come to him thinking they have only two options: surgery or radiation. In fact, they have more than a dozen options, based on the severity of their disease and their preferred balance of treatment and side effects. He urges patients to “obtain facts and apply principles” — replacing assumptions about cancer with informed decisions.
Even for the smaller, but significant segment of men diagnosed with more serious grades of prostate cancer including metastatic, Scholz explained that there has been so much progress in new treatment modalities with limited side effects that many men are living long productive lives living with their disease and not dying from prostate cancer. Dr. Scholz stressed that unlike other cancers, prostate cancer is much slower growing and the rush for treatment in most instances is not necessary.
After the talk, Scholz answered 40 minutes of audience questions.
AnCan moderator Joe Gallo produced the webinar, and moderators Peter Kafka, Howard Wolinsky, and Ben Nathanson relayed questions. Alexandra Scholz, CEO of Prostate Cancer Research Institute, the nonprofit education initiative run by Scholz, edited the video, and she and Peter Scholz lent production assistance.
Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers: An Essential Guide to Managing ProstateCancer for Patients and Their Families by Mark Scholz, MD & Ralph H. Blum (Other Press, New York; August 2021)
Summary: “Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers” is a guidebook for prostate cancer patients and their partners. It is of great interest to patients with low-risk to favorable intermediate-risk cancers considering early disease Active Surveillance (AS) since it critically evaluates types of treatment. AS is close monitoring of lower-risk prostate cancers. A patient with prostate cancer (Blum) and a medical oncologist (Scholz) present information patients can use in making key decisions in their care throughout the prostate cancer disease path.
My experience: This book was a just-in-time godsend for me. It was released in August 2010. I was in a holding pattern awaiting a follow-up biopsy at that time.I wasn’t diagnosed until Dec. 4, 2010. My cousin, Maxim Schrogin in Berkeley, California, who was diagnosed in January of that year and was on AS, told me the next day that the first thing I needed to do was get this book. I had it in hand within minutes via Kindle. I devoured “Prostate Snatchers” as I prepared for a second opinion on what, if anything, to do about this cancer.
I went against my first urologist’s advice to go on AS and avoid the side effects of active treatment because AS was not the mainstream approach then. My first urologist tried to rush me into the OR though I only had a single core of less than a millimeter of very low-risk Gleason 6 cancer. That’s the lowest level of prostate cancer,
What I liked about the book: This book helped give me the courage to consider AS and go off the then unbeaten path. It helped prepare me to see Scott Eggener, MD, at the University of Chicago, he told me I didn’t need surgery and was “the poster boy for AS.” A new edition of the book, which came out in August 2021, covers these changes and more. The world has changed since 2010 as reflected in the new edition.” Now,,
multiparametric MRIs have been accepted as the first step when PSAs rise, followed by targeted biopsies. The interval between biopsies is generally longer. Genetic and genomic testing has become more common in the U.S. to help determine whether biopsies are needed and which cancers are likely to become aggressive.
Authors Ralph and Mark plus my wife Judi and cousin Maxim were my “support group” as I became an “active surveillor.” There were no support groups devoted to AS then. I would not meet another patient on AS for seven years. We now have support and educational groups devoted to AS, including those from AnCan and Active Surveillance Patients International.
AS patients are not so rare anymore. We now make up the majority of low-risk patients.
Tips from the book: The book is chock full of background on prostate cancer and actionable information. For example, Scholz weighs in on prostate-specific antigen blood testing: “A PSA is considered a ‘cancer test.’ One savvy patient’s advice is to think of PSA as a nonspecific indicator, like the ‘check engine’ light on your dashboard. An elevated PSA may be due to harmless inflammation, recent sexual activity or even a laboratory error. The first step toward investigating the cause of a high PSA is to repeat the test. If the PSA remains high, the next item to consider is that the prostate may be enlarged (BPH).” The authors point out that if PSA is rising, patients should consider multiparametric MRI and targeted biopsy. Back in 2010, those weren’t quite on the table for discussion.
Nitpicks: No book is perfect. The authors, I think, missed an important discussion on the pros and cons of transperineal vs. transrectal biopsies. Transrectal biopsies can lead to sepsis or other
infections and can miss certain areas in the prostate that may harbor cancers. Also, the authors stressed that patients should seek out MRIs with 3-Tesla magnets. To get into the weeds, some new models with 1.5-Tesla magnets can work just as well and are used routinely at the National Cancer Institute. Discuss these matters with your doctor.
In conclusion:“The Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers” provides a critical look at the prostate cancer “industry” and serves as a bible for newbies considering AS and a reminder to those of us who have been on AS for many years of just why we took the now mainstream approach to low-risk prostate cancer. You can live with these “lame” cancers and not die from them. But you need to maintain
surveillance to detect if your cancer is becoming more aggressive.
Reviewed by Howard Wolinsky, editor of TheActiveSurveillor.com and AnCan moderator
