"Chemo" once meant "unspeakable misery endurable only by the most
obstinate and truly desperate", or so it was depicted in the media and
movies. Now the med oncs say it's FAR less onerous, MUCH milder, little
more than a major hassle, thanks to the miracles of modern chemistry.

I'm guessing the truth lies somewhere in the middle. What IS the
experience -- nature, severity, duration -- one can expect from
medically effective PC chemo (not ADT; chemo) these days?

I.P.

Let's see, 75 weeks after the end of my chemo treatment and 0.1. Guess I am
still on a holiday, lol.

Of course I did not start my holiday until 26 weeks after I started the
regime and a reduction of PSA from 32.4 to 0.7.

Treatment holidays improve quality of life
June 5, 2006.

Advanced prostate cancer can be treated successfully with intermittent
chemotherapy, according to a study conducted by Oregon Health & Science
University Cancer Institute scientists.

This is important because the optimal duration of chemotherapy treatment
for advanced prostate cancer is unknown. In many studies of newer
chemotherapy drugs, patients are treated either for a fixed number of
treatment cycles or until the disease progresses or until the side
effects become intolerable. For patients who are responding to the
chemotherapy, however, continuous chemotherapy may be exposing them to
unnecessary toxicity.
"More than one-third of advanced prostate cancer patients complete their
first round of chemotherapy with the disease in control," said Tomasz
Beer, M.D. , director of the prostate cancer program in the OHSU Cancer
Institute. "Indefinite chemotherapy is not practical because toxicity
and side effects accumulate, so we wanted to find out if a patient
can take breaks -- or 'holidays' -- in chemotherapy and then be
retreated with the same chemotherapy."

Beer and his colleagues found that when treatment was restarted after a
chemotherapy holiday, roughly three-quarters of study subjects
responded again or experienced stabilized prostate-specific androgen
(PSA), a protein made only by prostate cells that is monitored to help
predict the presence and progression of prostate cancer. The median
duration of the first chemotherapy holiday was 16 weeks.

"This was a clinically meaningful break for most of the subjects," Beer
said. Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy among men and the
second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. One in
six American men will develop prostate cancer during his lifetime.

Beer presented initial results on intermittent chemotherapy for
metastatic prostate cancer from the AIPC Study of Calcitriol Enhancing
Taxotere (ASCENT) on Sunday, June 4, at the 2006 annual meeting of the
American Society for Clinical Oncology.

ASCENT is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical
trial to evaluate an innovative formulation of high dose vitamin D
(DN-101) given with docetaxel (Taxotere) for advanced prostate cancer
research subjects who are no longer responding to hormonal therapy, a
condition known as androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC). Two
hundred fifty subjects participated in the study at 48 sites between
September 2002 and January 2004.

DN-101 is a capsule that works by producing much higher blood levels of
calcitriol than the body can produce from dietary vitamin D or vitamin D
supplements. In high doses, it enhances many commonly used
chemotherapeutic agents.

ASCENT subjects were eligible for holidays if they had a 50 percent PSA
reduction that was tested and confirmed four weeks later, a PSA below 4
ng/ml and no other evidence of disease progression.
"About 18 percent of the ASCENT study population was eligible for a
holiday," Beer said.

Researchers tested a protocol that included a PSA and clinical
examination every four weeks and, for those with measurable disease, an
assessment every eight weeks. Chemotherapy resumed after a confirmed PSA
increase of 50 percent when the PSA was 2 ng/ml or more or for any other
evidence of disease progression.

More than half the subjects responded with a greater than 50 percent PSA
reduction when treatment was restarted after the holiday. Approximately
one-quarter had stable PSA for at least 12 weeks and one-quarter percent
progressed on therapy.

"These results are encouraging," Beer said. "Additional study is needed
to more definitively determine the contribution of intermittent
chemotherapy to the overall efficacy and toxicity of treatment."

Beer, an inventor of DN-101, and OHSU have a significant financial
interest in Novacea, the manufacturer of DN-101. Novacea may have a
commercial interest in the results of this research and technology. This
potential conflict was reviewed and a management plan approved by the
OHSU Conflict of Interest in Research Committee, and the Integrity
Program Oversight Council was implemented.

This study was funded by Novacea with support from Sanofi
Aventis.
Source: OHSU

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