Author Archives: Bernard Smyth

Retired journalist, ex Fleet Street and managing editor at Home Office, London

Stopping cancer cells

This method forces tumour cells into a sleep-like state, say researchers at the University of Dundee. See here

MP on PCa screening

Sir Liam Fox, MP, has written to a Prospect member about PCa and his message is here. And this article says EU screening ‘not fit for purpose’

Making hormone therapy work longer

Researchers find new approaches to hormone therapy to keep it working for longer. More here

Cancer language ‘must change’

Let King Charles’s illness finally change how we speak about cancer: it’s not about ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ a ‘war’, writes Simon Jenkins in the Guardian. As someone treated for bowel cancer, he thinks attitudes must change but also the language. Some of it is tactless, some ridiculous. More here

Veggie diet ‘a help’

A vegetarian diet might help PCa patients. See here

Speaker Zoe sends leaflets

Our January speaker, Zoe Walker, Macmillan Radiotherapy Late Effects Radiographer, has sent helpful leaflets for members to download. The first is here. The second one is here and the third is here. She also says the booklet she recommends covering all aspects of sex and PCa is available here

New treatment hope

A German university medical faculty has developed an active substance that might in future represent a new treatment option. Known as KMI169, it targets an enzyme that plays an important role in the development of PCa. More here

13 new test centres

The government has announced 13 new diagnostic centres, enabling the NHS to perform nearly 750,000 more PCa tests and checks each year, says Prostate Cancer Research (Dec ’23).

HIFU starts in West

RUH is the first hospital in the West to use non-invasive PCa treatment. Newly-diagnosed men in the region who think they may be eligible for the treatment can speak to their clinician about referral. See here

Treatment ‘breakthrough’

Resistance to normal treatment for advanced PCa may be reversed in some men by stopping white blood cells from being “hijacked” and pulled into tumours, say London researchers. More here