In an ongoing effort to support physicians in improving patient care, DPC has been working with Stephen B. Strum, M.D. of Healing Touch Oncology (Los Angeles, CA). Dr. Strum is a medical oncologist specializing exclusively in prostate cancer (PCa).

Dr. Strum is the clinical director of the Prostate Cancer Research Institute (PCRI), which he and his colleague Mark Scholz, M.D. founded in 1996. The PCRI is dedicated to educating patients about PCa, pursuing research into the prevention and treatment of PCa, and improving the level of care for men with this disease. Dr. Strum communicates his ideas with doctors and patients through the PCRI Web site at www.prostate-cancer.org. He is also involved in numerous research protocols related to PCa, both as single institution studies and in collaboration with other investigators, and has published several studies in major medical journals on issues concerning the diagnosis and treatment of PCa.

PCa is a hormone-dependent disease; accordingly, Healing Touch Oncology’s approach is to measure a variety of hormone concentrations as well as tumor marker levels (Table 1). Dr. Strum focuses on the biology and endocrinology of PCa to tailor the best therapeutic regime to the individual patient. Treatments of advanced PCa that attempt to block the production of androgens by both the testes and the adrenal glands are commonly known as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). In such treatments, it is important to be able to measure very low levels of PSA over time, as well as relevant hormone levels, to assess the effectiveness of the therapy. Dr. Strum has found DPC’s IMMULITE^® Third Generation PSA, Testosterone and SHBG (for calculating the free androgen index), DHEA-SO₄ and other assays especially useful in this context.

Most patients undergoing ADT develop unpleasant symptoms associated with androgen deprivation syndrome (ADS). This fact led Dr. Strum and colleagues to explore the effectiveness of intermittent androgen deprivation (IAD) therapy as a viable option that would permit improved quality of life in PCa patients. His findings, presented to the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 1998, were recently published in The Oncologist. Dr. Strum also gave a presentation on this topic during the 2000 American Urology Association (AUA) annual meeting, at a dinner symposium that DPC was pleased to sponsor.

DPC is proud to supply the several IMMULITE assays in use at Healing Touch Oncology for the management of PCa patients. DPC is dedicated to providing innovative and clinically significant immunoassays that help laboratorians and clinicians better meet patient expectations.