Abel Smith
There are few treatment options for patients with aggressive prostate cancer, according to Ivanhoe Newswire. The most common treatment options for early-stage prostate cancer are surgery and radiation once the cancer has spread. Doctors are now able to target therapies other than hormones and chemotherapy to stop advanced prostate cancer in its tracks thanks to new testing developments.
This is the perfect way to spend an evening for John C. White III.
“My wife and I like to go out in it on a hot night and cruise around in it,” John stated.
His passion is for old cars like his 1923 Ford T-Bucket Roadster. John didn’t think he and Joanne would have many more nights like this in four years. John’s doctors told him he had aggressive, spreading prostate cancer.
John shared, “I started a year and a half of chemotherapy, four different drugs, with the hope that it would be gone.”
The doctors were unable to treat the cancer.
“His life was in danger,” stated a genitourinary oncologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Paul Mathew, MD. If not six months, I would have estimated a life expectancy of less than one year.
At that point, Dr. Mathew tried a novel treatment for prostate cancer. He removed John’s tumor and sent it to a biotech lab in Boston. The genes that are known to promote tumor growth were examined by technicians.
“In John’s case he had very rare mutation found in.1 percent of all prostate cancers,” Dr. Mathew stated.
The laboratory was also able to match John’s profile with treatments, one of which was the immunotherapy drug Keytruda, which has been approved by the FDA for melanoma, bladder, lung, and prostate cancer but not prostate cancer yet. John received infusions for three years, and they were effective!
His scans are spotless. Dr. Mathew asserted, “His PSA is undetectable.”
“He suspected that I could answer this, and he was totally correct. John told Ivanhoe, “I’m just thankful for every day I have.”
Dr. Mathew warns patients that genomic profiling is not a panacea for everyone, despite John’s successful treatment. In some cases there will be no current treatments that will be a match. In John’s case, he is thankful that the testing provided a life-saving option when all other treatments failed.
Supporters of this news report include: Field Producer Cyndy McGrath Videographer and editor Roque Correa
