More patients with prostate cancer being treated appropriately based on risk

the Oncology Nurse Advisor take:

According to a study published in JAMA earlier this month, researchers at University of California, San Francisco, have found that patients with prostate cancer are now more likely to receive medical care matched to risk level.

Previous research has shown that patients with low-risk prostate cancer have been overtreated for decades and inadequately managed when the disease becomes more aggressive.

Now, researchers have determined that 40% of men with low-risk prostate cancer diagnosed between 2010 and 2013 opted for active surveillance compared with only 10% of patients with low-risk disease diagnosed between 1990 and 2009. Researchers also found that rates of radiotherapy for patients with low-risk disease have declined since 1995.

"We expected to see a rise in surveillance rates, but were surprised by the steepness of the trajectory. It shows a major shift toward appropriate, risk-adapted management of the disease," said corresponding author Matthew Cooperberg, MD, MPH, associate professor in the departments of Urology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics at UCSF, and Helen Diller Family chair in Urology at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.