Friday, April 28, 2006  

By Joyce Howard Price

The Washington Times
Published April 28, 2006

WASHINGTON -- A new test that combines multiple scientific
disciplines can predict accurately which men are either at high or low
risk for a return of cancer after surgical removal of the prostate
gland.
    
    The test, known as Prostate PX, is the first and only
diagnostic test that combines cellular, molecular and clinical
information about a patient with advanced computer technology and
digital imaging to deliver the patient's individual risk for a
recurrence of cancer.
    
    Produced by Aureon Laboratories of Yonkers, N.Y., Prostate
PX was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February and
gradually is being marketed around the country.
    
    "Prostate cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in U.S. men,
with about 230,000 diagnoses yearly. Of those, 90,000 to 100,000 men
undergo a prostatectomy, or surgical removal of the prostate," said Rob
Shovlyn, vice president of sales and marketing for Aureon Laboratories.
    
    About 15 percent of post-prostatectomy patients experience a
return of cancer. But, until now, it has been difficult for doctors to
identify patients who fall into this high-risk category.
    
    Overall, about 30,000 American men die of prostate cancer
annually. It follows lung cancer as the second biggest cancer killer of
men.
    
    Dr. James Eastham, associate attending physician in the
Department of Urology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New
York, who is familiar with Prostate PX, said he thinks the new test will
"benefit about 20 percent of patients currently operated on."
    
    "The patients most likely to benefit are those deemed to be
at a higher rate of recurrence by currently available tools, since this
test can hone in on just how high a risk such a patient faces. It won't
benefit those at low risk, since it would not be cost-effective," Dr.
Eastham said in a telephone interview.
    
    The new test -- priced at $1,968 -- is based on an analysis
of a small section of a patient's excised prostate collected from the
pathology department of the hospital where he had it removed. The
pathology department sends it to Aureon Labs, so there is no need for
the patient to make additional laboratory visits or undergo
post-surgical needle-sticks.
    
    In clinical trials, Prostate PX accurately predicted a
return of prostate cancer in 94 percent of patients who experienced
recurrence within five years. Moreover, it accurately predicted clinical
failure -- or a distant spread of the cancer -- in 89 percent of
post-prostatectomy patients who developed metastasis five years after
surgery, said Jason Alter, a spokesman for Aureon Labs.
    
    Linking the clinical data together, the test comes up with
what is known as the Prostate PX score. Post-operative patients with a
score ranging from zero to just under 40 are determined to be at low
risk. Those with higher scores of up to 100 are viewed as being at high
risk.
    
    At this time, Prostate PX is primarily being sold in the
Northeast. But it should be available nationally by mid-2007, according
to Mr. Shovlyn.
    
    "The test is going to help, but it is still not the magic
bullet," said Dr. Brad Lerner, chief of the Department of Urology at
Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore.
    



knowledge is power - growing old is mandatory - growing wise is optional    
"Many more men die with prostate cancer than of it. Growing old is
invariably fatal. Prostate cancer is only sometimes so."
http://community.webtv.net/PALMER_ENT/doc