Report urges collaborative approach to prostate cancer treatment

Physicians need to develop a team approach to screen and treat prostate cancer, according to a report released last week by the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

The Foundation's "Report to the Nation on Prostate Cancer" posits that a multidisciplinary collaboration among urologists, radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists at all stages of the disease would optimize therapy and well being of prostate cancer patients. The report, authored by 24 leading physician-scientists, recommends several other "calls to action," including:

• diagnosing prostate cancer at the earliest stage when it is most treatable, while avoiding unnecessary biopsies and treatment of cancer that might not become clinically meaningful
  

• finding ways to distinguish between aggressive, fast-moving prostate cancers and less-aggressive cancers
  

• providing better data to patients on relative survival rates and frequency of major side effects of treatment
  

• and gaining more innovation in the field of prostate cancer treatment, as the number of new cases in the United States is expected to increase by 50% by 2012.

Further coverage of the report and its findings will appear in the November issue of Urology Times. To download a copy of the report, visit the Prostate Cancer Foundation's web site at www.prostatecancerfoundation.org.