Progress in advanced prostate cancer treatment

The results of this study, which included Wheeling Hospital's own Dr Greg Merrick, show promising treatment guidelines for men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. Please copy & paste the URL below into your web browser to view more details. 

http://www.wtrf.com/news/health/new-study-shows-hope-for-prostate-cancer-patients/1014024483

According to the article, posted on WTRF website March 6,2018: 

"Wheeling Hospital has announced that they've been part of a groundbreaking study published Tuesday in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study reveals hope for a situation that used to be considered hopeless, specifically for men with the most aggressive type of prostate cancer: Gleason 9 or 10.

Wheeling Hospital's Dr. Gregory Merrick was invited to participate in the study with a team of world renowned prostate cancer experts.

"And even when you have really aggressive cancer, which at one time was thought to be uniformly fatal, we now know it's not. And with all three treatments, patients have done much better than what they did historically. But I think this is clear evidence that brachytherapy has the absolute best cure rate," said Dr. Gregory Merrick, Schiffler Cancer Center Director.

Brachytherapy involves placing radioactive seeds at the site of the cancer.

It allows higher doses of radiation to go to the precise areas where it is needed.

Researchers studied how patients fared with bracytherapy, radical prostatectomy, or external beam radiation therapy.

The study concluded that brachytherapy is the most effective among treatment options.

The other hospitals involved in the study include John Hopkins, Harvard, the Cleveland Clinic, the University of Michigan, UCLA, Mount Sinai, and more."