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Announcement for Next Meeting Meeting Announcement Dr. Lorenzo Cohen is a faculty member of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Director of Integrative Medicine Program. He is also a Professor in the Dept. of Behavioral Science and has a joint appointment as Professor in the Division of Cancer Medicine; is President of the international Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) and Editor-in-Chief of their Journal. Dr. Cohen conducts a number of NIH-funded randomized controlled clinical trials, examining the biobehavioral effects of psychosocial interventions aimed at reducing the negative aspects of cancer treatment. He is particularly interested in examining different types of complementary programs that can be easily incorporated into conventional treatments to decrease the psycho physiological sequels associated with treatments. He also works with Fudan University Cancer Hospital in Shanghai, China, to examine traditional medicine for cancer. Tex Us TOO is a prostate cancer support group for the purpose of sharing information, education, experiences and mutual support. WE DO NOT DISPENSE MEDICAL ADVICE. NOTES AND QUOTES Tex Us TOO Outreach Report:
Bill To Provide Coverage of Post-Treatment Remedies. In 2007, Congressman Ed Towns (NY-D) introduced the Post-Prostate Cancer Treatment Equity Act of 2007 (H.R. 1903), which would allow approximately 6,000 men annually to pay for penile implants using their private insurance coverage as they seek a reconstructive remedy following a prostatectomy. Medicare already provides coverage for these procedures, as do almost two-thirds of insurers, however a growing number of private insurers continue to decline coverage. Many inaccurately view this procedure as a remedy for sexual dysfunction rather than a necessary procedure for reconstruction after the removal of cancerous prostate tissue. You can take action! Visit the link below and ask your member of Congress to support this legislation: http://www.capu.us/advocacy/HR1903Language.pdf , and also: http://www.capu.us/access.asp Flower Power May Bring Ray of Sunshine to Cancer Sufferers: ScienceDaily, May 1, 2008. — A mini-protein found in sunflower seeds could be the key to stopping tumors spreading in prostate cancer patients, according to Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Science, in Australia. Researchers Dr. Jonathan Harris, a senior lecturer in QUT, and PhD student Joakim Swedberg, both from the University's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, are working on the naturally occurring molecule. "We are interested in this miniprotein as a potential treatment of prostate cancer, in particular for those patients who relapse," said Dr Harris. "The best thing to do in those cases is block the disease spreading to other organs, particularly the spine, which is very debilitating; it is not the prostate tumor that kills you, it is when the cancer cells escape from the prostate, so we want to prevent that." Another QUT researcher, Professor Judith Clements, had previously shown that the action of enzymes called proteases was a key event in tumor spread, and Dr. Harris said that the sunflower mini-protein, known as the protease inhibitor, was able to block this enzymes in test tube-based assays. "However, it also inhibits a whole range of proteases, some of which control important processes in the body, so we have re-engineered the molecule so it should just block the proteases produced in prostate cancer and hence stop the tumor spreading, leaving other processes intact," he said. The National Health and Medical Research Council grant will allow Dr Harris and his team to perform tests on the re-engineered inhibitor in animals over the next months. "It feels like we have been covered in a shower of gold at the moment, it is very exciting for us because we are a small team but we have been working very hard on this for a long time," he said. "We are extremely happy because now we can carry out trials in mouse-models of prostate cancer and if we have positive results, we could get a pharmaceutical industry partner interested in the work. The dream end-product is having a drug which could be produced in sunflower seeds and given as a simple dietary supplement for people with prostate cancer." Medicare Reimbursement Changes Likely Influenced Changes in Prostate Cancer Treatment: Wiley InterScience, April 7, 2008 .Here is an interesting article regarding physicians encouraging patients with Medicare to surgical castration rather than medical castration with an LHRH agonist (Lupron, Zoladex, Eligard, Trelstar, etc.) since providing the LHRH agonist doesn't bring in sufficient reimbursement. Another "PATIENT BEWARE!" Interesting to note in the article are these specific passages: "changing a recommendation to a patient from an LHRH agonist to surgical castration solely for economic reasons is ethically inappropriate. However, asking urologists to take a financial loss while treating patients also is inappropriate." Aren't these two interesting and somewhat contradictory sentences?! Another interesting note is that some physicians have switched from providing Lupron to now providing triptorelin (Trelstar) because they get a somewhat better return (note also in the article, "only one of the LHRH agonists - called triptorelin - increased in use after institution of the Medicare Modernization Act. This drug was also the only LHRH agonist which maintained its reimbursement rate after the Medicare act was enacted). Only today a patient advised me his physician had recently discontinued providing Lupron and was now providing Trelstar. And just recently another patient received surgical castration at the encouragement of his physician "to save the patient the expense of androgen deprivation therapy." Apparently these physicians fail to explain that with surgical castration, intermittent androgen deprivation therapy (IADT) to permit a return of testosterone/androgen can never be a future option. For the complete article, please visit: http://jws-edck.wiley.com:8090/Cancer/News.nsf/0/B34146C0A2F96222852574240049BD54?OpenDocument OR http://tinyurl.com/4v4qyu“The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.” We welcome suggestions, criticisms, and contributions to this publication. This Is Your Newsletter. Please contact Manny Vazquez at (936) 597-6646, or by E-mail, at manny@consolidated.net - - TEX US TOO, 12335 Kingsride, #237, Houston, TX 77024-4116 (713) 623-4772 WEBSITES: Tex Us TOO www.texustoo.org We do not dispense medical advice.
2008 LETTER TO MEMBERS Survivors…Friends, April 2008 As one of the original Chapters of US TOO International, we now are in the18th year of providing education and support to those impacted by prostate cancer. New treatments constantly are being developed, but the cause and cure continue to be a challenge to the medical profession, so our mission goes on. Our primary activity remains our monthly meetings at St. Luke’s Methodist :Church featuring speakers from major health institutions. We strongly feel that the informal discussion groups that follow make valuable contributions to those seeking information, advice, and emotional support. Our participation in corporate and community health fairs expands each year, and we continue to partner with local hospitals in their free screening efforts in September, Prostate Cancer Awareness month. Our Dad’s Day 5K again will be a major undertaking which now has been complemented by the formation of Chapter Running and Walking teams. Board members who make these things happen include Manny Vazquez creating our monthly newsletter, Jim Howell, Bill Steiner, and David Turner managing our meeting arrangements, Derral Sperry, John Gealy, and Luis Suarez coordinating our health fair activity, and Joe Piper and Jerry Boldra leading our 5K event. After many years of very dedicated service, Malcolm Hendry has retired from the Board but we have been joined by Dean Trierwiler and Matthew Washington. Our Chapter operates on a break-even financial basis with your voluntary dues (we suggest $30) covering newsletter and meeting costs. To remain on our mailing list, please complete and return the portion below. We want to see more of you (and your spouses) at our monthly meetings, events, and activities…we have a life-saving cause, guys, so volunteer, participate….give back…! Pete Sterling, Chapter Leader - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MAIL TO: Tex US TOO, 12335 Kingsride #237, Houston, TX 77024-4116 NAME_____________________________________ EMail_______________________________ ADDRESS_________________________________________________________________________ PHONE______________________________ Chapter Dues_______ Receive newsletters by e-mail______ Help with Chapter events_______ We welcome suggestions, criticisms, and contributions to this publication. This Is Your Newsletter. Please contact Manny Vazquez at (936) 597-6646, or by E-mail, at manny@consolidated.net - - TEX US TOO, 12335 Kingsride, #237, Houston, TX 77024-4116 (713) 623-4772 WEBSITES: Tex Us TOO www.texustoo.org FREE PROSTATE SCREENING On an ongoing basis, M.D.Anderson Cancer Center does offer free prostate screenings every Tuesday. The appointments are limited to 10 patients each day and are held at 7:30 a.m. in the ACB (Mays Clinic) building. To schedule an appointment for a free prostate cancer screening, the patient would need to call 713-792-8924 to confirm. For information or to speak to a prostate cancer survivor, please contact the American Cancer Society at 409-938-3191 |