Exploring New Prevention and Treatment for Prostate Cancer

Prostate Cancer is one of the most common cancers that affects men. Currently, one in nine men will be affected by Prostate Cancer in their lifetime.

Dr. Arpit Rao, MBBS, of the Department of Medicine, talks to Kare 11 News about his work with treating and preventing Prostate Cancer and how this work has been funded by the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund.

“I’m leading the effort along with the Dana Farber Institute at Harvard and University of Michigan, of investigating for the first time a new class of medications in advanced prostate cancer,” Dr. Rao tells Kare 11.

Currently, the only next steps at signs of Prostate Cancer is a very invasive biopsy test which can end up hurting more patients than helping them, according to Dr. Rao.

The mission of this research was to find an exam that will precede this biopsy test so that the majority of men will not have to go through this procedure.

“If best case scenario if it makes people live longer, if it shrinks prostate cancer better than the alternatives, and if we can customize which patients are going to get the most bang for their buck, that’s the best-case scenario for us,” says Dr. Rao in his Kare 11 interview.

Most men do not show symptoms for Prostate Cancer until it’s too late. However, because these biopsies are so invasive it is not recommended that men are checked before the age of 45. With the work of Dr. Rao and the rest of the cancer research team, it is hopeful that there will be a new solution to this problem.