The epidemiology of high-risk prostate cancer - Abstract

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Concern for over and under-treatment of men with prostate cancer has led to an increased focus on the identification and selective treatment of men with high-risk features.

The purpose of this review is to summarize the epidemiology, risk factors, and treatment trends of men with high-risk prostate cancer.

RECENT FINDINGS: Findings from recent trials on prostate-specific antigen-based screening suggest that screening has substantially reduced the incidence of high-risk prostate cancer. Men with high-risk disease tend to be older at diagnosis than those with low-risk disease. There is marked variation in the treatment of men with high-risk features; contemporary studies favor multimodal therapy, but high-risk disease is often under-treated with androgen deprivation alone, particularly among older men.

SUMMARY: Variations in the incidence, mortality, and treatment of men with high-risk prostate cancer may reflect heterogeneity among studies in the definition of high-risk disease. Future research should attempt to standardize definitions of high-risk prostate cancer to allow better comparison between studies and provide a more homogeneous assessment of natural history.

Written by:
Punnen S, Cooperberg MR.   Are you the author?
Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.

Reference: Curr Opin Urol. 2013 Apr 24. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1097/MOU.0b013e328361d48e


PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23619582

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