Balding Blog

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The prostate cancer drug Xtandi prolonged lives and delayed tumor progression when used before chemotherapy in a study of men with advanced cases of the disease, researchers said on Tuesday. The study results are expected to open up a broader market for Xtandi, which was developed by Medivation and Astellas Pharma, and open a new front in its competition with Johnson & Johnson’s blockbuster drug Zytiga.

Xtandi, also known as enzalutamide, was approved in 2012 as a treatment for men with metastatic prostate cancer who have already tried the chemotherapy drug docetaxel. The new study showed it was also effective when used before chemotherapy.

Doctors said that could be a welcome option for the tens of thousands of men each year who have advanced prostate cancer but little or no pain or other symptoms. Many of them would rather take a pill like Xtandi or Zytiga than go for periodic infusions of chemotherapy, with its harsh side effects.

Read the rest — Drug Shows Promise in Advanced Prostate Cancer When Used Before Chemotherapy

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People who received the world’s first stem cell treatment for strokes have shown measurable reductions in disability and handicap a year after the injection into their damaged brains.

Some can move limbs and manage everyday tasks that were impossible before they received an injection of neural progenitor stem cells, which were clones of cells originally taken from the cortex of a donated fetus.

Apart from physical rehabilitation, there are few treatments for people left severely disabled by a stroke. Demand for more options is high, with 800,000 new cases each year in the US and 150,000 in the UK.

Read the rest — First stem cell trial for stroke shows lasting benefits

Results were presented from 11 people disabled by stroke that were given injections of stem cells. This announcement was made in Nice, France at the European Stroke Conference last week, and it shows the power of stem cells in treating damaged organs.

We have seen remarkable benefits from stem cells after a heart attack where these cells changed into muscle cells to help the heart handle its output load. The future here is very bright! Who knows, one day we may even be able to create hair!

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Andemariam Beyene sat by the hospital window, the low Arctic sun on his face, and talked about the time he thought he would die.

Two and a half years ago doctors in Iceland, where Mr. Beyene was studying to be an engineer, discovered a golf-ball-size tumor growing into his windpipe. Despite surgery and radiation, it kept growing. In the spring of 2011, when Mr. Beyene came to Sweden to see another doctor, he was practically out of options. “I was almost dead,” he said. “There was suffering. A lot of suffering.”

But the doctor, Paolo Macchiarini, at the Karolinska Institute here, had a radical idea. He wanted to make Mr. Beyene a new windpipe, out of plastic and his own cells.

Read the rest — A First: Organs Tailor-Made With Body’s Own Cells

I found this article and was blown away with excitement, so my first instinct was to share this with our readers. Imagine building organs with the help of the body’s own tools. That was done here and saved a life. One day, this will become common, for this I have little doubt.

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By now, the words have become a permanent part of the national lexicon: “For erections lasting longer than 4 hours, seek immediate medical assistance,” warn ads for various erectile dysfunction (ED) drugs.

But what of the patient whose ED treatment consists not of a drug but a penile implant — someone whose erection lasts not 4 hours but 8 months? What does this patient do? Well, if he’s 44-year-old Daniel Metzgar, of Newark, Delaware, he sues his doctor for medical malpractice.

Read the rest — Eight-Month Erection Gives Rise to Malpractice Suit

This patient had a prolonged erection from a penile implant, and because of complications of swelling and eventual extrusion of the implant, he sued his doctor for medical malpractice. The patient received a three piece inflatable implant and had it surgically implanted. He developed scrotal swelling but did not report it to his doctor, though did go to the hospital after 4 months.

In 2010, tubing punctured his scrotum, so he had the initial device taken out and a replacement instrument put in by another doctor. He sued his initial doctor for not putting in the device correctly claiming regular embarrassment and told the jury that he could not ride his motorcycle, wear normal cloths or participate in family events. “I could hardly dance, with an erection poking my partner” the patient said, “It’s not something you want to bring out at parties and show to friends”.

When the jury award came in, the patient lost following the defense’s logic that that sometimes “bad outcomes occur”, even when nobody is at fault.

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Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, and in 2010, it was responsible for over 28,000 deaths in the US. Now, a new study presented at the European Association of Urology congress in Sweden suggests men with blood type O have a significantly lower chance of the cancer recurring.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), prostate cancer is the second most common cause of death from cancer among white, African American, American Indian/Alaska Native and Hispanic men.

Read the rest — Men with blood type O have lower recurrence of prostate cancer

Tokyo Medical University’s Dr. Yoshio Ohno and his colleagues studied 555 prostate cancer patients that had a radical prostatectomy.

The article goes on to say, “After following the patients for an average of 52 months, Dr. Ohno and his team found that patients with blood group O were 35% less likely to have prostate cancer recurrence, compared with patients with blood group A.”

This is a good pick-up. Most of us know our blood type, so this might be some good reassurance for those with type O blood.

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Matt and Al undergo uncomfortable prostate exams on ‘Today’ to help raise awareness of prostate cancer during men’s health month.

What some people on the Today show will do to promote good health — and ratings: Matt Lauer and Al Roker underwent prostate exams on live TV today.

Cue the urological jokes and the funny faces. Yuck, yuck, indeed. But it was all for a good cause and, let’s face it, celebrities undergoing medical procedures in public can grab the attention of the medically clueless.

Read the rest — Matt Lauer and Al Roker get prostate exams on ‘Today’

Getting a prostate exam on morning TV is one way to raise prostate cancer awareness… and to try for a ratings boost.