THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

In February, a group of researchers initiated a major new survey of patient knowledge about active surveillance as an initial management option for men with lower risk forms of prostate cancer.

If you are a either

• A patient with a lower-risk forms of prostate cancer (i.e., very low risk, low risk. or “favorable” intermediate risk, localized prostate cancer) who is on active surveillance, is considering starting active surveillance, or who was advised to consider active surveillance (but decided on a different option) or
• a spouse/partner or other immediate caregiver for such a patient

we encourage you to participate in this very straightforward survey. It shouldn’t take you more than about 5 minutes at most, and it is completely anonymous.

It doesn’t mater where you live around the world. It doesn’t matter how old or how young you are. And it doesn’t matter what you may or may not have decided to do about your own particular case of prostate cancer. What the researchers are trying to find out about are things like what you know or knew at the time you were considering this possibility and what you’d like to have been able to find out more about.

As many as 50 to 70 percent of men initially diagnosed with prostate cancer today may initially be good candidates for first-line management on active surveillance (as opposed to immediate “curative” treatment with things like surgery or radiation). Understanding what people know or knew at the time they made their decisions about their initial care and whether they understood that active surveillance was an appropriate option is therefore extremely important.

Prostate Cancer International strongly encourages readers of the InfoLink site to complete this survey (please). We also encourage all other patient advocates, educators, support group leaders and others to spread the word about the existence of this survey.

Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk | Tagged: active, knowledge, patient, surveillance, survey |