Skip to main content

Howard Wolinsky is a co-founder of Active Surveillance Patients International. Howard has been a medical journalist for 50+ years. He writes news here and also about his views and experience as a patient on active surveillance since 2010. For more news and views, go to TheActiveSurveillor.com

Active Surveillance

Moving the Needle on AS. Michigan Shows a Path to a 90%+ AS Rate

MUSIC to my ears Howard Wolinsky Sep 4, 2022 Urologists were slapping high fives and backslaps when news was released at the American Urological Association’s annual meeting in May: For … Read More

AS’s dirty little secret: The dropout rate

AS mileage varies. Howard Wolinsky Oct 8, 2022 I want to let you in on a dirty little secret about active surveillance (AS). First, the bad news: The dropout rate … Read More

Active surveillance hits 60% in the U.S., but lags far behind Canada, Holland, and Sweden

80% is the new goal Howard Wolinsky May 16, 2022 Back when I was diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer in 2010, surgery or radiation were near inevitabilities in those dark … Read More

Must-read for potential active surveillors: New edition of ‘The Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers’

Evading the invaders Howard Wolinsky Jul 17, 2022 On Dec. 4, 2010, a urologist in Chicago diagnosed me with me a single core of low-grade Gleason 6 prostate “cancer.” He … Read More

Diet and Exercise

Dr. William Li presents to ASPI: Of lycopene, tangerine tomatoes, angiogenesis and lots more

Howard Wolinsky Aug 4, 2022 Your diet can impact your prostate cancer, William Li, MD, told an audience of almost 400 at a webinar, “Eat to Beat Prostate Disease,” presented … Read More

Emotional Health

Prostate cancer patients and other wildlife along the road less traveled

Dedicated to birds bees, flowers trees, and fellow prostate cancer patients Howard Wolinsky Apr 8, 2023 Most days, for the past 15 years or so, I have walked the trails … Read More

If Gleason 6 were redefined as noncancer, only 5% of patients say they would quit surveillance; 82% would stick with program.

Patients share their views on Gleason 6 in survey Howard Wolinsky Feb 16 Over the past year, urologists and pathologists have been debating whether Gleason 6 lesions should be considered … Read More

Features

Dr. AI, prostate cancer, & more

Extra! Extra! AI itself reports exclusively on the future of AS for TheActiveSurveillor Howard Wolinsky Feb 22, 2023 Artificial intelligence (AI) is an overnight sensation. Within a week of its … Read More

Extra! Extra! ‘Detected early’: Why news coverage of prostate cancer and AS usually (not always) sucks

Howard Wolinsky Aug 1, 2022 It’s a tale often told in the media. A beloved figure, a basketball or baseball coach, a popular community leader, a political figure, or a … Read More

A cancer on the Senate–and the political media

Politics and prostate cancer, strange bedfellows Howard Wolinsky Feb 19 White House counsel John Dean on March 21, 1973, warned President Richard M. Nixon there was a “cancer growing on … Read More

Time to Rage Against The Prostate Cancer Machine

Howard Wolinsky Scientific fact: One member in two rock bands will be diagnosed with prostate cancer Dec 14, 2022 (Rage Against The Machine’s Tim Commerford latest rocker to be diagnosed … Read More

Patient beware: Urologists more biased than rad oncs in 2nd opinions

Howard Wolinsky Sit patientes estote cave (Let the patient beware) Feb 7 Shared decision-making is supposed to involve an honest conversation between a patient and clinicians to help the patient … Read More

The persistent mythology of urology: urinary symptoms and most prostate cancers

Howard Wolinsky Nov 24, 2022 Journalism is called history in a hurry. I have been part of this enterprise as a medical reporter for more than 50 years as well … Read More

International Prostate Cancer Care

More breaking news from EAU: ProtecT study offers some new angles on impotence, incontinence in Active Monitoring patients

Howard Wolinsky Men with prostate cancer don’t need to undergo a prostatectomy to experience incontinence or impotence, UK researchers from the ProtecT study group reported in the journal NEJM Evidence and also … Read More

Breaking news: German study gives finger to Digital Rectal Exam

Howard Wolinsky The Digital Rectal Exam (DRE) is taking its lumps and bumps again. This time, a German study concluded that DREs might be useless in detecting early prostate cancers. … Read More

Active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer: Why can’t America be more like Sweden?

Howard Wolinsky Nov 17, 2022 What is Sweden best known for? Well, for starters, there are ABBA, Volvo, IKEA, köttbullar and lingonberry, director Ingmar Bergman, “I’m Curious” Yellow and Blue, and Stockholm, … Read More

PSA/Imaging

IsoPSA cuts biopsy rate in half for newbies

Howard Wolinsky IsoPSA. You probably haven’t heard of it until now. But at least you’ll be familiar with the PSA part as men who have undergone screening for prostate cancer. We follow … Read More

This just in: Can a new MRI technique reduce biopsies by 90%?

Howard Wolinsky Some dramatic news from across the pond is suggesting that MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans can reduce biopsies by 90%. That could be huge if the study holds up. (More … Read More

IsoPSA cuts biopsy rate in half for newbies

‘Wonderful world’ ahead in AS? Better anyway. Howard Wolinsky Apr 18, 2022 (Update on on May 10, 2022: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has recommended the IsoPSA test as … Read More

Renaming Gleason 6

New study shows strong support for re-labeling Gleason 6 growths as noncancers

Howard Wolinsky A newly published study led by Alejandro Berlin, MD, a UToronto radiation oncologist, has shown that low-risk prostate cancer patients, spouses and undiagnosed men favor renaming Gleason 6 (Grade Group … Read More

Who’s on ‘right side of history’ in ongoing debate over whether Gleason 6 is really a cancer?

Also, pathology leaders call for a discussion amongst prostate experts Howard Wolinsky Apr 22, 2023 The debate over whether Gleason 6 should be called a cancer, a noncancer, or a … Read More

This just in: Eggener, Gupta, Catalona and TheActiveSurveillor launch the debate on renaming Gleason 6

Howard Wolinsky Dr. Scott Eggener, Alejandro Berlin, Matt Cooperberg, Andrew Vickers, Gladell Paner, and I had an article this week in Journal of Clinical Oncology on renaming Gleason 6 as a noncancer. I … Read More

The views expressed in these blog posts are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Active Surveillance Patients International. Neither the author nor ASPI is liable for any decisions made or actions based on this article's information. Readers are encouraged to consult their medical team for advice before making decisions.