Alex Bryant (4th year UCSD Medical Student) (right) and fellow investigators in the Rose Lab published an analysis of the 3-month post-treatment PSA level as a biomarker in a cohort of nearly 6000 men treated within the VA System with definitive RT and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). The 3-month post-treatment PSA level was found to be a strong prognostic biomarker for prostate-cancer specific outcomes, suggesting its potential use in future clinical trials of intermediate and high-risk prostate cancer patients. This analysis was published in the journal Cancer and included collaborators from the UCSD Department of Urology and Harvard University Department of Radiation Oncology.

A big data health outcomes study published by Brent Rose MD, Jim Murphy MD and Danny Simpson MD in JAMA Oncology was featured in the weekly UC San Diego Health In the News, a weekly summary of UC San Diego Health in the Media.  The research team investigated the association between androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in over 45,000 veterans diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2001 and 2015. They did not observe a statistically significant increase in risk of any dementia, vascular dementia or Alzheimer’s disease in this cohort.  Their results should help mitigate concerns regarding the long-term risks of ADT on cognitive health in prostate cancer patients.

Reith Sarkar (UCSD 4th Year Medical Student) (right) and colleagues from the Rose Lab published an analysis of the impact of pre-diagnostic 5α-reductase inhibitors (5-ARI) in a cohort of over 80,000 men with stage I-IV prostate cancer treated within the VA System between 2001 and 2015. Pre-diagnostic 5-ARI usage was associated with delays in prostate biopsy and worse prostate-cancer specific outcomes, suggesting the need for increased awareness of 5-ARI-induced PSA suppression.   This study was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.