PCRI Accomplishments

Our Mission

The Prostate Cancer Research Institute mission is to improve the quality of men’s lives by supporting research and disseminating information that educates and empowers patients, families and the medical community.
Clinical Research from PCRI
PCRI has been involved in major inroads in prostate cancer therapy, inroads that have a direct effect on the quality as well as the length of life for men with prostate cancer. Areas of involvement include:

• Bone Integrity Affects the Natural History of Prostate Cancer
   
• Androgen Deprivation Syndrome (ADS)
   
• Anemia Associated With Androgen Deprivation (AAAD)
   
• Procrit (Erythropoietin) Corrects the Anemia of Androgen Deprivation
   
• Viagra (Sildenafil) Restores Erectile Ability in Men on ADT
   
• Intermittent Androgen Deprivation (IAD)
   
• Early Use of Nizoral Prolongs Response Time
   
• Importance of Bone Marrow Support in Patients on Chemotherapy for Prostate Cancer

Publications with Full References

PCRI has produced many publications representing years of combined patient care coupled with clinical observation and medical writing. This achievement, in the setting of a non-profit organization that has been essentially funded by patients, is a highly unusual achievement.
Educational Activities of PCRI

A. PCRI Helpline

The PCRI Helpline is unique in the way it interacts with callers seeking help in understanding and dealing with this disease. The "callers" include men with prostate cancer, their families and friends, or physicians. The overwhelming majority of the Helpline interactions, which reaches fifty phone calls, emails or faxes per day, pertain to education for a prostate cancer patient. The Helpline staff person (i.e. "Facilitator") works with the caller to extract vital medical information, which is essential to assess the nature and extent of the disease so that they can provide information that is both accurate and relevant to the caller's situation. In such a manner, they "facilitate" the patient's communication with his physicians to obtain a successful outcome. The Helpline Facilitators provide medical information but do not give medical advice.

PCRI Facilitators have been intensely trained about prostate cancer by the Dr. Strum and other PCRI Medical Advisors. They have also spent countless hours reviewing PCRI educational materials. They have access to a Board of Medical Advisors to obtain ideas and information pertinent to an individual situation. The Helpline staff reviews medical articles from The Journal of Urology, Urology, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, The Oncologist and Cancer to stay current with the latest developments in prostate cancer research and treatment. Moreover, educational group emails are sent to PCRI staff to highlight important concepts. Further, each Helpline Facilitator does continual additional research as needed to stay abreast of current developments.
There is no other prostate cancer education and research organization performing this function with a Board of Medical Advisors, trained in the specialty of prostate cancer, constantly educating and evaluating its Helpline staff.

B. PCRI Insights

Insights is a sophisticated quarterly newsletter directed at an empowered prostate cancer community. The first issue of Insights was published in October of 1998. In this and subsequent issues new developments in the evaluation and treatment of prostate cancer have been introduced with highly focused reviews and outstanding graphics. Insights is being sent to more than 20,000 individuals, including prostate cancer patients, their families and friends. In addition, interested urologists, medical oncologists, and radiation oncologists who are members of the American Urologic Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation Oncologists, respectively, receive Insights on a complimentary basis. Insights subscribers are located in the United States, Canada and many countries around the world.

C. PCRI Lectures

PCRI has presented over 150 lectures on a wide variety of prostate cancer topics to conferences and support groups. Slides for many of these lectures are available through the PCRI administrative office.

D. PCRI Conferences

Since its inception, PCRI has been instrumental in the planning and presentation of national and regional conferences that have attracted audiences as large as 1500. The conferences have provided patients and their caregivers with the latest information on diagnosis and treatment along with ways to deal with all aspects of prostate cancer. They have included lectures from many of the leading physicians and scientists in the field. Additionally, most of the presentations were captured on videos and are available for purchase. These have provided the basis for programs at hundreds of support group meetings. These fantastic experiences have been made possible by a number of generous sponsors and a legion of dedicated volunteers.

E. The PCRI Web Site

The PCRI Web site at www.prostate-cancer.org or www.pcri.org was created in 1998 and currently averages over 100,000 page views per month. The Web site contains a wealth of information that includes papers published by Drs. Strum and Scholz as well as the medical articles by other leading prostate cancer specialists that have appeared in Insights. All issues of Insights may be downloaded for viewing and/or printing. 

The website also contains an interactive Glossary that is probably the most comprehensive of its kind for prostate cancer patients, and an events section that lists major upcoming events that related to prostate cancer

On the home page of the Web site is a link to a Pamphlet entitled "What You Should Know About PC", now in its second edition. PCRI has created and sent out over 100,000 copies of this pamphlet, which details what active roles you can take in the prevention and early detection of prostate cancer. This publication is also available in Spanish. We also find this to be a valuable resource for family members of men with prostate cancer and for women with breast cancer due to the genetic links between the two diseases and the genetic factors relating to transmission of prostate cancer to family members.

The Prostate Cancer Research Institute

PCRI is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit education and research organization that advances awareness and monitoring of ever-expanding and evolving treatments available to improve outcomes for prostate cancer patients. The Federal Tax ID # is 95-4617875 and qualifies for maximum charitable gift deductions by individual donors.

5777 W. Century Blvd. Suite 800
Los Angeles, California 90045
Telephone (310) 743-2116 Fax (310) 743-2113
Helpline (310) 743-2110 or (800) 641-PCRI