I’ve been on a bit of a binge lately. But, fear not, it hasn’t involved booze, recreational stimulants or late nights doing the cockroach in sweaty nightclubs. Rather, my vice has been reading an indecent number of cancer memoirs as part of my creative writing PhD studies.

By Tim Baker | Among the many potential side effects of hormone therapy, (or Androgen Deprivation Therapy), one that gets perhaps too little attention is the risk of cognitive decline. 

By Tim Baker | Greetings from beautiful WA, where I’m fresh from a delightful weekend at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival.

By Tim Baker | When I was first diagnosed back in 2015, one of the most helpful books I read was “When Things Fall Apart” by Pedma Chodron, a Zen Buddhist monk, full of deep wisdom on dealing with adversity.

By Tim Baker | Last week, I had the great privilege of being involved in a patient forum for men living with prostate cancer at the Australian Prostate Centre in Melbourne.

By Tim Baker | So, here’s a curly question I haven’t seen addressed in any of the prostate cancer literature I’ve come across so far.

By Tim Baker | It’s nearly eight years since I was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer and nearly a year since my cancer memoir, Patting The Shark, was published.

By Tim Baker | I can think of plenty of reasons not to do a road trip from the Gold Coast to Melbourne and back, about 40 hours and 4000 km round trip, with a stage four prostate cancer diagnosis...

By Tim Baker | Fresh back from the Newcastle Writers Festival and brimming with new inspiration from the writerly marketplace of ideas, as always when I attend these events.

By Tim Baker | I was enjoying a bit of friendly banter with one of my prostate cancer comrades in the UK on Twitter recently (as you do) when the topic of diet came up.

By Tim Baker | In the tool kit for managing the distress and trauma of a cancer diagnosis, have you ever considered the role of writing therapy?

By Tim Baker | You hear and read a lot in oncology about the dangers of offering false hope to cancer patients. From spurious folk remedies and snake oil to the uncertain benefits of nutrition and emotional healing...

By Tim Baker | Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform many areas of healthcare, including cancer care. But can it replace medical professionals? Tim Baker shares his thoughts. 

My recent cancer memoir Patting The Shark was written as part of a creative writing PhD at Griffith University. The book forms what’s called the creative component of my PhD and now it’s done, I’ve turned my attention to the academic component, the Exegesis.

PCFA is about to start a review of Australia's guidelines for prostate cancer testing, harnessing our chance to change the way we manage the disease. 

Last week we brought together some of the country's leading clinicians to talk about new and emerging treatment options that have vastly improved the way we diagnose and treat prostate cancer. 

The vodcast touches on robotic and open prostatectomies, advances in radiotherapy, and the frontlines of research into side-effect management and treatment of erectile dysfunction and incontinence.

If you have any questions, or need support, call 1800 22 00 99 to speak with a PCFA Telenurse.

You’ve probably heard these three words a fair bit in recent years. You might even be sick of hearing them, but you are probably going to have to get used to it.

In the context of cancer care, most would agree the standard of care you receive should not be determined by your bank balance, ethnicity, postcode, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation. This has been a hot topic at recent oncology conferences and for good reason.

Greetings from Bali, where your correspondent finds himself enjoying a break from normal transmission, in the splendour of the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival. I’m here to talk about my book Patting The Shark, which you might already be aware documents the perilous path of the prostate cancer patient and my quest for a sensible, middle path through mainstream and evidence-based complementary therapies.

Changing the health care system is slow, difficult and expensive.

So, I thought I’d save everyone a lot of time, cost and trouble by designing new guidelines for the delivery and management of a prostate cancer diagnosis, based on my admittedly complete absence of medical qualifications, apart from seven years as a prostate cancer patient.

There may be no satisfactory answer to the question: Why did I get cancer?

If you are a lifelong smoker with lung cancer, chances are that was a contributing factor. Lengthy court cases have been waged to establish if exposure to the toxic pesticide and known carcinogen Roundup was responsible for the various cancers suffered by gardeners and farmers and others who regularly doused themselves with the stuff.

It has been shown that between 5-90% of patients will develop some degree of incontinence after a radical prostatectomy. Continence status will continue to evolve for up to 1 year after the surgery and in most patients will resolve after this period. Conservative treatment options should be trialled before proceeding to more invasive treatments, particularly in the early postoperative period, and patients should be followed up regularly to monitor treatment progress. Among the most common conservative treatments are behavioural therapies, pelvic floor muscle training with or without biofeedback, electrical simulation, and pharmacotherapy...

It’s fair to say receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis, particularly the advanced incurable variety, throws your world into a spin...

Hi, I’m Tim.

Diagnosed with stage 4, metastatic prostate cancer on July 7, 2015. PSA 120. Gleason score 9. Lesions in right femur (thigh bone) and left seventh rib. Those of you with a maths brain might have already calculated that was nearly seven years ago. In that time, I’ve had early chemotherapy with concurrent hormone therapy, targeted radiation, ongoing intermittent hormone therapy, and have undergone a TURP...

Neoadjuvant therapy usually refers to chemotherapy administered prior to definitive treatment such as surgery or radiation. In the context of prostate cancer neoadjuvant treatment can include androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) (also known as testosterone blockade). Although usually given in the context of a clinical trial, neoadjuvant ADT (nADT) may be used to reduce the size of locally advanced tumours, facilitating surgical resection. It has also been shown to ....

Factors that may prompt germline testing include a family history of cancer, particularly breast cancer, ovarian, pancreatic cancer or melanoma. Having one or more family member with a cancer related to Lynch syndrome is associated with having a high risk of a germline mutation. In those patients whose prostate biopsy pathology shows ductal/intraductal histology also have higher rates of germline mutations.

The Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate (ANZUP) Cancer Trials Group was formed in 2008, and is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, allied health care professionals, scientists, researchers, and community representatives, all working in areas related to urogenital cancer. Their aim is to .....

One of the treatment options for locally advanced non-metastatic prostate cancer is external beam radiation therapy in conjunction with androgen deprivation (testosterone blocking) therapy. If there are no lymph nodes (glands) that are obviously involved, then radiation would be confined to the prostatic bed. However, within the radiation oncology fraternity there has .....

The focus on this year’s meeting was on advanced cancer. Two types of cancer were presented: those that would respond to anti-androgen therapy (Castrate sensitive prostate cancer – CSPC) and those who have had anti-androgen therapy and developed resistance to treatment (Castrate resistant prostate cancer- CRPC) .......

In many of our research blogs we have highlighted the psychological and beneficial effects of exercise. It has been shown that lack of strength and/or muscle power has been associated with poor survival¹. During this Men’s Health Week² (14-20 June 2021) the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australian (PCFA) is encouraging everyone to do 45 sit-ups a day for one week (and hopefully long-term) to stay fit but to also start a conversation. But why 45? That’s because, “45 men are diagnosed each day, and over 3000 will die this year,” according to CEO of the PCFA, Professor Jeff Dunn (AO). He goes on to add that this is “currently the most prevalent cancer in Australia and by 2040, an estimated 372,000 men will be living with or beyond prostate cancer, a 60 per cent increase from around 230,000 today.”

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australian men, with about 17,000 men newly diagnosed each year. For most men the long-term outlook is very good - relative to the general population and considering other causes of death, 95% of men with prostate cancer will survive at least five years after diagnosis and 91% of men with prostate cancer will survive 10 years or more. Today there are around 220,000 Australian men alive after a diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Of concern to our mission, for men who develop advanced prostate cancer, the outlook is not as good. Prostate cancer kills more than 3,000 men in Australia every year, representing about 12% of all male deaths from cancer. So, what is advanced prostate cancer, how is it detected and how is it treated?