TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A new imaging system that highlights cancerous tissue makes it easier for surgeons to detect and remove tumors without harming surrounding healthy tissue, according to U.S. researchers.

TUESDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) -- The latest update from a European study that has followed men with prostate cancer for more than a decade leaves the debate about the advantages of aggressive treatment versus "watchful waiting" undecided.

The advantage in survival seen for men who underwent surgery to remove the prostate disappeared after 10 years. While deaths attributed to cancer continued to be lower among those having surgery, the overall death rate for both groups was the same, according to the researchers with the Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group.

MONDAY, Aug. 11 (HealthDay News) -- One in five men in their 40s has had a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test in the past year, and young black men are more likely than young white men to have undergone the test, a new analysis shows.

The findings, published in the Sept. 15 issue of Cancer, should help experts as they reassess prostate cancer screening recommendations.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Vietnam veterans exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange have a significantly greater risk of prostate cancer, especially the most aggressive form of the disease, a new study contends.

The findings are the first to connect the now-banned herbicide with this form of cancer, the researchers said.

NEW YORK - Doctors should stop routine prostate cancer screening of men over age 75 because there is more evidence of harm than benefit, a federal task force advised on a hotly debated topic.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which made the recommendation Monday, reported finding evidence that the benefits of treatment based on routine screening of this age group "are small to none." However, treatment often causes "moderate-to-substantial harms," including erectile dysfunction and bladder control and bowel problems, the task force said.

TUESDAY, July 29 (HealthDay News) -- Men undergoing hormone deprivation therapy to keep prostate cancer at bay may experience memory loss and have trouble concentrating, a new study finds.

Testosterone is thought to help spur prostate cancer. So, androgen depletion therapy has been used for many years to treat the disease. By reducing the level of testosterone, the treatment helps to slow the growth of prostate cancer cells.

A new drug called abiraterone may prove to be a breakthrough treatment for aggressive prostate cancer. Scientists say the drug -- which blocks hormones that fuel the cancer -- could potentially treat up to 80 percent of patients with a deadly form of the disease that's resistant to chemotherapy, BBC News reported.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) - Recent U.S. declines in deaths from the four most common cancers -- lung, colorectal, prostate and breast -- are primarily benefiting better educated Americans, new research from the American Cancer Society shows.

While deaths from these malignancies did drop significantly from 1993 to 2001, most of that decline occurred among men and women with college degrees, the team found.

A gene that greatly increases a woman's risk of breast cancer also causes a particularly deadly form of prostate cancer, say Canadian researchers who studied 301 prostate cancer patients. On average, those with the defective BRCA2 gene lived an average of four years after diagnosis. The average survival time for prostate cancer patients is 12 years.

MONDAY, June 23 (HealthDay News) -- Low socioeconomic status increases a cancer patient's risk of dying, say U.S. researchers who analyzed data on almost 14,000 breast, prostate and colorectal patients in seven states.

The study found that cancer patients with low socioeconomic status had more advanced cancers at time of diagnosis, received less aggressive treatment, and had a higher risk of dying within five years of diagnosis.

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