Most readers will know by now that prostate cancer surgery results are significantly better at high-volume centers (see this link). Unsurprisingly, the same holds true for primary radiation treatment of high-risk patients. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Diagnosis, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: mortality, outcome, radiation, therapy, volume | Leave a comment »
According to a newly published article in Urologic Oncology, at least 85 percent of all radical prostatectomies in America are now performed using robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP). Actually, this is hardly a surprise. However, … READ MORE …
Filed under: Management, Treatment | Tagged: experience, prostatectomy, quality, skill, volume | 13 Comments »
In yet another utterly unsurprising “research” finding, a new article in the Journal of Urology has shown that — in the USA — minority prostate cancer patients and prostate cancer patients treated under Medicaid are less likely to have their prostates removed at high-experience and high-volume hospitals where there is high use of robot-assisted surgical techniques. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: access, Medicaid, minority, outcome, quality, surgery, volume | 5 Comments »
A media release issued by Henry Ford Health System earlier today has a distinctly misleading headline that reads as follows: “Higher hospital volume more important than surgeon experience in outcome of prostate cancer surgery.” You need to read the content of the media release with care to understand that this headline is by no means an accurate summation of the results of the study referred. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Diagnosis, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: hospital, outcome, surgery, surgical, volume | 2 Comments »
In order to initially gain or maintain board certification, American urologists must (among other things) submit case logs to the American Board of Urology. A new study, published recently in the Journal of Urology, has used data from these case logs to assess current trends regarding the use of robot-assisted laparoscopic and open radical prostatectomy. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Management, Treatment | Tagged: open, radical prostatectomy, RALP, robot-assisted, volume | 5 Comments »
A new review by Epstein, currently available on line in the Journal of Urology, provides a detailed analysis of the clinical significance of various factors in determining prognostic risk for newly diagnosed and recently treated patients with localized prostate cancer. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk | Tagged: biopsy, clinical, core, pathologic, prognosis, quantification, stage, T2, tumor, volume | 10 Comments »
Back in March, a group of authors from three major medical centers published a report in the Journal for Healthcare Quality strongly suggesting that U.S. hospitals were inappropriately over-promoting the use of robot-assisted surgery for treatment of prostate cancer. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Management, Treatment | Tagged: hospital, outcome, promotion, radical prostatectomy, RALP, volume | Leave a comment »
A new study has clearly shown that men with lighter (and therefore smaller) prostates are at greater risk for positive surgical margins after robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) than men with heavier (and therefore larger) prostates. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Management, Treatment | Tagged: margin, positive, PSM, risk, volume, weight | Leave a comment »
There’s a new article in the radiation therapy literature suggesting a direct correlation between prostate volume and risk for severe, acute, genitourinary toxicity when prostate cancer patients with large-volume prostates are treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). … READ MORE …
Filed under: Management, Treatment | Tagged: genitourinary toxicity, IMRT, risk, volume | Leave a comment »
A new analysis of data from two independent databases suggests that (in the US) only 20 percent of urologic surgeons carried out 10 or more radical prostatectomies in 2005. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Management, Treatment | Tagged: caseload, experience, radical prostatectomy, volume | Leave a comment »
Todays news reports adddress:
Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk, Treatment, Uncategorized | Tagged: biopsy, core, EBRT, external beam radiation therapy, hormone therapy, hospital, hypofractionated, IMRT, radical prostatectomy, sexual function, surgeon, volume | Leave a comment »
Over the years there have been several studies suggesting that regular use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) — the most common being aspirin — can decrease prostate inflammation and prostate cancer risk. Since aspirin and other NSAIDs are commonly used to prevent cardiovascular disease, it will be apparent that there is going to be relatively high use of these agents in the men who are also at some degree of risk for prostate cancer. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Diagnosis, Risk | Tagged: aspirin, NSAID, Prevention, PSA level, volume | Leave a comment »
It has been well known for a while now that, as far as radical prostatectomy is concerned, surgeons with a high case volume tend to have better overall outcomes with a lower incidence of adverse effects than the average. A recent paper by Chen et al. has made an initial attempt to determine whether the same effects are evident with respect to brachytherapy. And the answer is not entirely positive — but there are limitations to this study. … READ MORE …
Filed under: Management, Treatment | Tagged: brachytherapy, outcome, provider, volume | Leave a comment »
News items today are focused on information about:
Filed under: Drugs in development, Management, Treatment | Tagged: Apoptone, cancer, HE3235, hormone refractory, hospital, news, prostate, prostatectomy, radical, update, volume | Leave a comment »
