Raena Morgan: Hi! I'm Raena Morgan with iHealthTube, visiting with Dr. Aaron Katz who wrote 'Prostate Health'. We're talking about all the ins and outs, and symptoms of prostate cancer, and preconditions. One of them you talk about in your book is called PIN. That's not cancer right, but it is a red flag?
Dr. Aaron Katz: That's correct. It is a red flag. I think that men need to understand that PIN is a condition that is detected on a prostate biopsy. So who needs a prostate biopsy?
If a man comes in and he has a persistently elevated PSA, then he needs to undergo an ultrasound of the prostate. And at the time of the ultrasound, biopsies or small pieces of the prostate can be taken for an analysis.
If the biopsy comes back, it will come back with either one of three types of conditions. There will either be no cancer, or benign prostate condition. There will be cancer. Then there will be this precancerous condition, there could be this precancerous condition.
Raena Morgan: And that's what PIN is?
Dr. Aaron Katz: That's called PIN, that's correct. There is some debate in the literature as to how many of the men who have PIN will develop cancer and how long will it take for them to develop cancer.
But the consensus is right now, that men that have a few cores of PIN on their biopsy, probably need to have another biopsy, usually within six months to a year, because those men have the highest rate of developing prostate cancer in that small period of time.
What we believe right now in prostate cancer biology is that there is a cascade of events that occur. Genetic changes can occur in the prostate. Changing the prostate epithelium or the lining of the prostate from normal to PIN to cancer.
Why those changes occur are completely for the most part unknown. We have certain hypothesis that it can be related to diet. It can be related to the environment, which we can't always control. But there are certain things within the environment, within the diet, that we can reduce or add to our diet to prevent that cascade from occurring.
Can we block inflammation, which would block that PIN development, and block that cancer development.
Raena Morgan: So those are the vital questions you ask at that stage, and sometimes it could still at that point be lifestyle changes?
Dr. Aaron Katz: Yes, lifestyle modifications, reducing red meats in the diet, reducing fats in the diet; incorporating some of the nutrients that we're studying at the center. Some of the important compounds that can interfere with inflammation in the body and in the prostate, and potentially block the development of advanced prostate cancer.
Raena Morgan: So some of the natural remedies that you talk about in your book could be introduced at this phase?
Dr. Aaron Katz: Yes. In fact, we are just completing our phase one clinical trial using a novel herbal compound. There is a compound called Zyflamend, which we are testing on just those patients.
Those patients that have been diagnosed with PIN, and we are treating them for 18 months and we're trying to block advanced and aggressive cancers in those men. That is in fact what we are finding from our results on our Zyflamend trial.
Raena Morgan: Very good. Well thank you for that information Dr. Katz.
Dr. Aaron Katz: Thank you.
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