THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

A research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports a major uptake in the application of active surveillance as a first-line form of management of prostate cancer across the Veterans Affairs health system here in the US since 2005.

Loeb et al. report that among > 125,000 US veterans diagnosed with low-risk forms of prostate cancer between 2005 and 2015,

Utilization of conservative management increased among men younger than 65 years (27% in 2005 to 72% in 2015) and 65 years or older (35% in 2005 to 79% in 2015) …. The increase was primarily due to greater use of active surveillance (4% in 2005 to 39% in 2015 in men < 65 years; 3% in 2005 to 41% in 2015 in men ≥ 65 years).

The full text of this brief research letter is freely available on line for interested readers, and commentary has also been published in The Washington Post (although the headline in The Washington Post seems a little misleading to your sitemaster).

Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk | Tagged: active, Affairs, low risk, Management, surveillance, veterans |