New study links obesity with prostate cancer risk

A new study adds more evidence that obese men may have a significant increase for future prostate cancer.

The research studied the biopsies of 6,692 cancer-free men, 11% of which had precancerous lesions during their lifetimes. Of that group, 494 who went on to develop cancer and matched them with 494 who did not were selected for study.

Their findings concluced that being overweight or obese increased the risk of prostate cancer by a staggering 57%. This association was found to be true in all cases of prostate cancer -low and high grade as well as nonaggressive and aggressive.

The study may help doctors in deciding what kind of follow-ups are necessary with obese men. Andrew Rundle, lead author and associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia, stated that the study may help identify which men need to be followed up with more closely.

Their results were published online in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

New Treatment for Prostate Cancer Performed at LHSC

The London Health Sciences Center has announced that a new, minimally invasive procedure to treat prostate cancer has been performed successfully.

 The new treatment, developed in collaboration with the Lawson Health Research Institute, allows for treatment to be performed in a single session using 'transurethral magnetic resonance guided ultrasound ablation', and allows for the procedure to be performed with greater accuracy.

 This treatment comes as a hopeful alternative to traditional treatments such as radiation therapy and surgery, which are often successful but leave many patients with long-term complications.

Dr. Joseph Chin, chief of surgical oncology at LHSC said in a statement to the CBC “This represents significant advance in the management of prostate cancer…Magnetic resonance image guidance allows us to target prostate tissue, using ultrasound energy without harming healthy tissue outside the prostate... We hope the clinical trial will show that this system can provide an effective and minimally invasive treatment for localized prostate cancer, with minimal side effects."