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Prostate cancer survivorship: a new way forward

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Over 2 million people in England have a diagnosis of cancer. This is such a large problem, the Department of Health is spending £750 million on improving earlier diagnosis and prevention of cancer, yet at the same time, £20 billion of efficiency savings must be made. One arm of post-cancer care is survivorship. Survivorship care was initially developed in the USA 20 years ago, starting with breast cancer patients. Prostate cancer survivorship care has been lagging far behind.

Survivorship care involves risk profiling of patients, supported by community based teams and developing shared care/decision making. More often than not, they are fit and well, requiring PSA follow-up only. Yet no guidance relates to survivorship management.  

 

Cancer survivorship encompasses the “physical, psychosocial, and economic issues of cancer from diagnosis until the end of life.” There are significant concerns that current follow-up methods are unsuitable. Concerns regarding permanent physical, psychosocial, and economic effects of cancer treatment have been highlighted and give us good landmarks for survivorship care. These include monitoring for recurrence, metastases, side effects and coordination between secondary and primary care and impact on quality of life. If we examine what patients expect, this includes a full assessment of needs, discussion on side effects of treatment and a personalised care plan post-treatment. Patients also report not knowing who to contact for their care out of hours. Five key phases to survivorship care were identified: care via primary treatment from diagnosis, enable as rapid and full a recovery as possible, ensure recovery is sustained, manage side effects of treatment and monitor for recurrence or disease progression. As part of a National Cancer Survivorship Initiative, a recovery package was developed. This includes a holistic needs assessment and care planning at key points of the care pathway, a treatment summary, a cancer care review, a patient education and support event.

Based on these facts, we have developed a new survivorship model – this was set up as a National Cancer Survivorship Initiative. This programme was initially devised when it was identified specific areas of care were lacking in this cohort, when followed up on a clinic basis. It aims to address the holistic need of the survivorship cohort, and at the same time, allow monitoring for acute recurrence and follow-up care as well as community based follow-up and patient support.

Our Survivorship programme is for patients post-curative therapy for organ confined disease (surgery, external beam radiotherapy or brachytherapy). Patients are offered the option of entering into the survivorship programme and discharged from clinic (Figure 1). Inclusion criteria specify patients must be two years post-radical prostatectomy with an unrecordable PSA, or three years post-radiotherapy or brachytherapy with a stable PSA. We currently have over five hundred patients on this programme. The patients’ demographic, disease and treatment details are entered onto a password protected web based database. The IT programme allows patients to be monitored for recurrence via automatic extraction of PSA results from the hospital database. It is a bespoke database. Alerts are automatically generated if the PSA is above a previously set range. The clinical nurse specialist (CNS) running the programme will contact the responsible consultant once an alert is generated with the patient reviewed in clinic, if required. The CNS will also go through a ‘Distress Thermometer’ with patients on admission to the programme, to identify areas where the patient needs support, psychological, social etc. The specialist nurse would act as the patients’ keyworker, should they develop any side effects of treatment, or any recurrence.

At its initial inception, a focus group of patients was conducted, as part of participatory action research, to find out what they wanted as part of this programme – a user led system. Specifically, they mentioned a conference where they have access to health care professionals and specific topics covered including diet and exercise, nutrition, psychosexual counselling. This conference is held annually, with a range of healthcare professionals advising on identified patient issues e.g. psychological care, health promotion, research, and welfare. The conference allows patients to draw on their strengths and share experiences with each other. Topics such as identification of recurrence, long-term complications, rehabilitation services, quality-of-life issues, pain and symptom management and treatment of recurrent cancer are examples of areas covered. 

There are over 600 patients currently on the programme, a mixture of post-surgery, radiotherapy and brachytherapy. Of these patients, 29 have been referred back to clinic. When asked at the pilot conference if it was worth attending, 100% said yes. As a result of the initial focus group, comments have been made in support this programme.

Whilst this programme is currently only for patients post curative treatment, the next steps forward are to see if patients undergoing active surveillance or hormone therapy can be followed-up using this programme.

Further information:

National Cancer Survivorship Initiative

Worcestershire Prostate Cancer Survivorship Conference

Worcestershire Prostate Cancer Survivorship Programme

 

Goonewardene SS*, Persad R†,Nanton V‡, Young A‡, Makar A
*Homerton University Hospital, London, †North Bristol NHS Trust, ‡Warwick University, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals

Quality has no boundaries

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The new year has arrived bringing with it new expectations of success. It gives us the opportunity to reflect on 2013 and plan for the year ahead. We hope you enjoyed the new web journal www.bjui.org that we have introduced. It has certainly increased our full paper downloads each month which means that our readers do care. Thank you! Your loyalty makes the many hours of hard work – 24/7 – all worthwhile. We have an international team which allows someone, somewhere to be making constant improvements to the BJUI for your reading pleasure.

Many of our readers while congratulating us, commented that perhaps we had focussed on being of greater relevance to the younger generation. Imagine my surprise when at a recent Men’s Health meeting in London, my old chief came up to me for a discussion about the controversies of PSA testing following publication of the AUA guidelines [1] and a consensus statement from down under on blogs@BJUI [2]. He had read it all on the web much earlier than when these articles eventually make it to the print journal. Like him, many of our readers see and read an article or blog online but do not necessarily comment on it. As a new metric, we will start indicating the number of times an article is read in addition to the number of comments it receives.

At the BJUI we do not make New Years resolutions. It is much easier to act. During our editorial board meeting last October it became obvious that we were receiving high quality papers from all over the world. In this issue, we have the great pleasure of showcasing a superb article on circumcision from Uganda [3]. Men with or without HIV, which is highly prevalent in Africa, tend to heal well after circumcision. This does not appear to be affected by their CD4 counts. This is a large study, relevant to all urologists and I would urge you to read it and the accompanying editorial from Paul Hegarty [4].

This article also gave us the idea of highlighting the geographical location of the article of the month on the front cover. Another inspirational concept from Tet Yap our associate editor for design. More about that in coming editions.

Finally Maxine Sun is back with a SEER study showing that the extent of lymphadenectomy during radical nephrectomy in patients with nodal metastasis, does not affect survival. Like any database, missing entries may have confounded the results and it is critical from a scientific standpoint to understand the resultant bias [5]. For those wishing to learn health services research a good starting point is to read the Sun Blog on SEER at our web journal.

Here’s looking forward to interacting with you in 2014.

Prokar Dasgupta
Editor in Chief, BJUI

Guy’s Hospital, King’s Health Partners

References

  1. Ballentine Carter H. American Urological Association (AUA) Guideline on prostate cancer detection: process and rationale. BJU Int 2013; 112: 543–547
  2. Murphy D. The Melbourne Consensus Statement on Prostate Cancer Testing. blogs@BJUI. Available at: https://www.bjuinternational.com/bjui-blog/the-melbourne-consensus-statement-on-prostate-cancer-testing/. Accessed 20 November 2013
  3. Kigozi G, Musoke R, Kighoma N et al. Male circumcision wound healing in HIV-negative and HIV-positive men in Rakai, Uganda. BJU Int 2014; 113: 127–132
  4. Hegarty P. Circumcision – follow up or not? BJU Int 2014; 113: 2
  5. Sun M, Trinh Q-D, Bianchi M et al. Extent of lymphadenectomy does not improve the survival of patients with renal cell carcinoma and nodal metastases: biases associated with the handling of missing data. BJU Int 2014; 113: 36–42

Original publication of this editorial can be found at: BJU Int 2014; 113: 1. doi: 10.1111/bju.12575

Editorial: Too many men still undergo needless prostate biopsy

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Multiple studies have shown that only one in three or four men with a raised PSA level prove to have prostate cancer and many men suffer potentially life-threatening complications from transrectal prostate biopsy. There is an urgent need for better risk stratification of men with elevated PSA levels. Any such test should have a high negative predicative value (NPV; small number of significant cancers missed) but also a high positive predictive value (PPV; i.e. the yield would be high and there would be very few false positives) to diminish the number of unnecessary biopsies. Multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) of the prostate, especially with a stronger 3 T magnet, has been advocated for this purpose. The parameters refer to the separate MRI sequences used, typically at least three. Sequences can not only study the anatomy of the gland (standard T2-weighted MRI), but there is also a measure of the tissue cellularity (diffusion-weighted MRI), vascularity (dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI) or biochemistry (magnetic resonance spectroscopy). Initial data have shown promise but the changes seen on these various sequences can be subtle and interpretation is subjective. Naturally observer experience plays a large part but a standardised scoring system, the so called Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PIRADS) system, has been proposed to improve reporting performance [1]. Each parameter is scored on a scale of 1–5 according to the likelihood of cancer. Scoring systems are always a compromise between the NPV and PPV, and so far there is no agreement where the threshold for each parameter should be set. In the original document, the authors proposed that a score of 4 or 5 signifies a high likelihood or almost certainty of cancer, whilst scores of 1 or 2 denote a high likelihood of benign tissue. A score of 3 is evens. The paper by Kuru et al. [2] shows a high NPV only when the threshold was set at the low level of 2 for each parameter. Predictably, at this threshold the PPV was extremely low, and therefore many men would still undergo unnecessary biopsy. Another similar paper advocated a mean threshold of 3, but even then the PPV was 38% with a NPV of 95% [3]. Both these papers are retrospective studies, in particular the MRI readings were done retrospectively. Nevertheless, the low PPV is disappointing. The results of prospective studies with multiple readers are keenly awaited and I hope that that these will find a higher PPV for mpMRI, and we can to move to an era when fewer men undergo needless prostate biopsy.

Uday Patel
St George’s Hospital, London, UK

Read the full article

References

  1. Barentsz JO, Richenberg J, Clements R et al. ESUR prostate MR guidelines 2012. Eur Radiol 2012; 22: 746–757
  2. Kuru T, Roethke M, Rieker P et al. Histology core-specific evaluation of the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR) standardised scoring system of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) of the prostate. BJU Int 2013; 112:1080–1087
  3. Portalez D, Mozer P, Cornud F et al. Validation of the European Society of Urogenital Radiology scoring system for prostate cancer diagnosis on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging in a cohort of repeat biopsy patients. Eur Urol 2012; 62: 986–996

The Bengal Urological Society’s Golden Jubilee

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We recently celebrated the Bengal urological Society’s Golden jubilee!

Earlier known as the “Calcutta Urology Association”, the society was founded in the year 1963 and is the oldest urological society in India. My guess is that it is probably one of the oldest societies that aimed to establish a separate existence of urology. What’s your take on that?

It was a privilege to have Prof Prokar Dasgupta with us for this event. The demonstration of the robotic surgery by the master himself was exhilarating.

 


Dr Prokar Dasgupta, receiving the “Award of Excellence”

The feedback from the urological community and especially the residents has been phenomenal. I am sure that the light has been ignited in the minds. We are planning to take concrete steps to help serve our community better.  The idea of a “Reverse Movember” (shaving off our moustaches) for prostate cancer sounds exciting and will be great if I am able to implement it!

Amit Ghose

The Spirit of Christmas

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It’s that festive time of year when everything in London seems to be subsumed by the preparations for Christmas festivities. I thought therefore that it might be appropriate to devote a few thoughts to the sadly departed Tim Christmas, the outstanding surgeon and urologist to the Charing Cross and Royal Marsden Hospitals who died two years ago and always loved his namesake festivities. Tim and I go back a long way. He was a medical student at the Middlesex Hospital in London when I was a trainee, and senior registrar at St Bartholomew’s when I was a Consultant there. He and I wrote a book together on prostate cancer, and we had some great times together at work and at AUA, EAU, SIU and ICS as well as other meetings in various parts of the globe.

Tim was a classic eccentric Englishmen, a great wit and an exceptional surgeon. Like Sir Lancelot Spratt he eschewed keyhole surgery in favour of a “maximally invasive” approach; this made him the acknowledged expert in the UK of para-aortic lymph node dissection and thoraco-abdominal excision of renal tumours with involvement of the inferior vena cava. Two technically difficult procedures which he learnt from his friend and mentor Bill Hendry. Bill like Tim was an exceptionally gifted surgeon.

Tim was a surgeon’s surgeon and a tremendous character (read Tim’s BJUI Obituary here). He is fondly remembered by fellow urologists, nursing staff and patients alike. Although Christmas comes once a year, sadly there will only be one Tim Christmas, the surgeon and we have lost him prematurely. He was a one-off, a product of his own special era, and we will most certainly never see his like again. If you have fond memories of or anecdotes about Tim please post them on this blog;  Tim has been sending to all of the patients baskets from Gift Tree and try to make their life a little happier, Merry Christmas to you all.

Roger Kirby, The Prostate Centre, London

Looking to plan the ideal Christmas function for your boss, workmates or staff? End of year is a busy time for everyone, and it’s refreshing to know that a relaxing time can be had on a skippered, catered function cruise.

It’s unbelievable and quite surprising that how fast, over half the year has already passed and it just seems like you celebrated New Year’s Eve last month. With the first half already over, don’t hope for the second half to stay back any longer and before you know it, Christmas will be knocking on your door waiting to tell you there’s a Santa stuck in your chimney. Now, with Christmas, comes the great office parties and the hassle you have to go through every year to organise everything to the point that it is pitch perfect. Because who wants a party ruined on Christmas Eve and especially not if it’s your responsibility. It’s only fitting that such a party, where your number of people is somewhere between 2 and 35, is done with a Boat Hire. They have the absolute best options and services for your office Christmas Party celebrations where all you have to do is make the booking and forget about doing anything else. The company will look after all your specifications and needs before arranging the experience of a lifetime for you at this year’s Christmas party.

If you are looking to make a huge impression on your staff then I fully suggest you to rent a yacht in montauk, some professional agencies offer a mesmerising package where you can charter a private boat for up to 35 people to take them on a cruise of the beautiful Yarra river. The package will include food and beverages that will be served onboard the cruise and can be tailor-made according to your requirements. If the number of people you’re taking with you is less than 10, then you can book the eco-friendly package and cut off the extra expenses. The new addition to the latest cruise packages given by a Boat Hire include a progressive dinner or lunch cruise of the Yarra River, and stopping at three different restaurants for a three-course meal, be it lunch or dinner.
If you’re looking to have a Christmas party and have a great adventure, then you can easily avail the self-drive hire where you can pack your picnic and cruise on the Yarra River. There will be boats available to you that can seat up to 12 passengers and you will require no boat license to hire and drive.

Boat Hire are offering three different routes for your Christmas party and you can book any one of the three. The first route is either of the three: Yarra river or Maribyrnong River or Williamstown, next up is St Kilda and Port Melbourne. All you will have to do is book a schedule and mention the number of people you’re planning to bring with you along with your contact and payment details. The hassle part of the deal is for us to look after and you to relax. What’s even better is that a Boat Hire are willing to offer packages according to all amounts of budgets and sizes and can make a special carved out plan according to your needs. If there was ever any easiness while planning a Christmas party.

Editorial: Minimally invasive surgical training: do we need new standards?

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The pan-European survey conducted by Furriel et al. [1] in this issue of BJUI is a timely address of a hot topic in urology.

More than 20 years have passed since the first laparoscopic nephrectomy was performed by Clayman et al. [2] in 1991, and now all urological major interventions have been performed with one or more different minimally invasive techniques (standard, single-site or robot-assisted laparoscopy); some of them have passed the judgment of time becoming ‘gold standard’ treatments, while others are still under evaluation. Specifically, the European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines recommend laparoscopic radical nephrectomy as the ‘standard of care’ over open surgery, report favorable outcomes for robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, and propose as optional treatments laparoscopic or robot-assisted partial nephrectomy and radical cystectomy [3].

Obviously, this surgical revolution brings two major new issues: (i) Starting from academic and training centres, hundreds of Urology Departments throughout Europe need to update their surgical knowledge and expertise, making senior urologists perform up-to-date procedures; (ii) Residents and young urologists require adequate and possibly standardised training in minimally invasive surgery, learning at least the basic laparoscopic skills. The study by Furriel et al. [1] correctly highlights both problems.

First, according to the survey, penetration of laparoscopy in the most important urological training centres is unexpectedly low. In fact, more than one out of four centers (26%) do not perform minimally invasive surgery, even for the ‘standards of care’, such as laparoscopic radical nephrectomy. Moreover, as the survey was conducted specifically on the topic of minimally invasive surgery, it is probable that unexposed residents were less interested in responding, making the data of penetration probably even worse than reported. This fact reflects a serious problem present in most training centres. While previously surgery slowly evolved, laparoscopy and technology brought sudden innovations, putting several senior urologists ‘out of the game’. Hence, today, training is needed not only for residents, but also for consultants. In the meantime, it is important that residents are trained in centres were minimally invasive surgery is already widely available. In this perspective, European educational authorities should endeavour to certificate the residents’ training centres, for example on the basis of adherence to EAU guidelines. Academic or non-academic training centres not adherent to guidelines (and thus not performing minimally invasive surgery) should therefore be deprived of residents.

Secondly, training residents in minimally invasive surgery can be approached in different ways, from low-cost self-made dry laboratories to expensive virtual reality or robotic three-dimensional simulators. According to the survey, >40% of centres have no training facilities available. It has been shown that self-built, cheap, dry laboratories are as efficient in training as the industrial ones [4], so that it is not a matter of costs but a matter of interest. We strongly believe that watching surgical videos, observing live surgeries and using (low-cost or not) dry laboratories are fundamental steps in acquiring the basic skills in laparoscopy, while the modular training proposed by Stolzenburg et al. [5] for laparoscopic radical prostatectomy is the best live training model and can be exported to other kinds of surgery, such as radical or partial nephrectomy. In the centres where robot-assisted surgery is available, working as a table-side assistant is another good way to acquire laparoscopic skills.

A great debate is currently ongoing about credentialing in minimally invasive surgery training [6]. Pragmatically, when the European training centres are certificated for adherence to the EAU guidelines, there will be no need for a specific credentialing in laparoscopic skills, because it will be included in the standard training path, together with endoscopic and open surgery.

In conclusion, the survey by Furriel et al. [1] shows that times are changed: the old axiom ‘big cut, big surgeon’ is not valid anymore. The emerging urological generations know it, and ask to be adequately trained. Training centres must evolve, because in 2013 minimally invasive surgery has formally to be considered as part of the standard urological armoury.

Antonio Galfano and Aldo Massimo Bocciardi
Department of Urology, Ospedale Niguarda Ca’ Granda, Milan, Italy

Read the full article

References

  1. Furriel F, Laguna MP, Figueiredo A, Nunes P, Rassweiler JJ. Training of European urology residents in laparoscopy: results of a pan-European survey. BJU Int 2013; 112: 1223–1228
  2. Clayman RV, Kavoussi LR, Soper NJ et al. Laparoscopic nephrectomy. N Engl J Med 1991; 324: 1370–1371
  3. EAU Guidelines, edition presented at the 28th EAU Annual Congress, Milan 2013. ISBN 978-90-79754-71-7. EAU Guidelines Office, Arnhem, The Netherlands. Available at: https://www.uroweb.org/guidelines/online-guidelines/. Accessed September 2013
  4. Beatty JD. How to build an inexpensive laparoscopic webcam-based trainer. BJU Int 2005; 96: 679–682
  5. Stolzenburg JU, Schwaibold H, Bhanot SM et al. Modular surgical training for endoscopic extraperitoneal radical prostatectomy. BJU Int 2005; 96: 1022–1027
  6. Lee JY, Mucksavage P, Sundaram CP, McDougall EM. Best practices for robotic surgery training and credentialing. J Urol 2011;185: 1191–1197

Beyond our wildest dreams

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In this podcast Prokar Dasgupta summarises the success of the BJUI over 2013. For more on podcasts, including how to record your own, go to Podcasts Made Simple.

 

If anyone had suggested to me in January 2013 that our full article downloads would increase by 15% and the Melbourne Consensus Statement on PSA testing would be viewed over 5000 times @ BJUI.org, I would have stared at them in disbelief. The launch of our web portal in addition to an innovative paper journal, has achieved just that. And much more. We remain one of the Big Three in urology with a Klout score greater than any of our colleagues. These are impossible to achieve via papyrus alone.

The common theme amongst all the fantastic innovation that our Associate Editors have introduced is the highest quality of original articles that we have attracted and published this year. I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight them and thank all our authors for sending us their best manuscripts.

The updated Partin tables (2006–11) remains our most cited paper published in 2013 [1]. It is sheer coincidence that I selected it as our first article of the month in January. It has allowed surgeons to avoid lymphadenectomy during radical prostatectomy in non-palpable Gleason 3+4 disease as the risk of a positive lymph node is <2%. The accompanying 3 minute video on the BJUI Tube channel is an excellent summary for the busy urologist.

I had to appease a number of oncologists when Cooperberg and colleagues showed that radiation for prostate cancer was about 2.5 times more expensive than radical prostatectomy in a comprehensive lifetime cost-utility analysis [2]. Peace was rapidly established at the annual meeting of the British Uro-Oncology group (BUG) where I participated in a balloon debate on the subject this autumn.

The thematic variations continue. It seems that 12 weeks of Tadalafil is effective in ejaculatory and orgasmic dysfunction in patients with ED [3]. Sexual medicine remains an exciting section of the BJUI and I am grateful to the andrologists on our editorial board for diligently reviewing the large number of papers that we receive from investigators in this field.

And finally we had two practice changing randomised trials in stone disease. Plasma vaporisation performed better than balloon dilatation for creating PCNL tracts [4]. For the curious, there is a video demonstrating the method if you wish to learn it.

The Portland trial has a simple message that you just can’t ignore; a single dose of NSAID before ureteric stent removal prevents severe pain afterwards. This is going to become standard of care if it has not already [5].

Many of our readers will wonder why we continue with a paper journal when the web has been so successful? The map here shows our global reach, which includes a number of subscribers who prefer to, or by necessity, read the print journal (∼30%). Moreover in a BJUI Online Poll, 75% of our readers reported taking the paper journal out of its plastic sheath and reading it, with over 50% doing so within a week. The transition will thus take longer and while the web remains our main portal, the beautifully designed paper BJUI will still land on your doorstep.

Prokar Dasgupta
Editor in Chief, BJUI

Guy’s Hospital, King’s Health Partners

References

  1. Eifler JB, Feng Z, Lin BM et al. An updated prostate cancer staging nomogram (Partin tables) based on cases from 2006 to 2011. BJU Int 2013; 111: 22–29
  2. Cooperberg MR, Ramakrishna NR, Duff SB et al. Primary treatments for clinically localised prostate cancer: a comprehensive lifetime cost-utility analysis. BJU Int 2013; 111: 437–450
  3. Paduch DA, Bolyakov A, Polzer PK, Watts SD. Effects of 12 weeks of tadalafil treatment on ejaculatory and orgasmic dysfunction and sexual satisfaction in patients with mild to severe erectile dysfunction: integrated analysis of 17 placebo-controlled studies. BJU Int 2013; 111: 334–343
  4. Chiang PH, Su HH. Randomized and prospective trial comparing tract creation using plasma vaporization with balloon dilatation in percutaneous nephrolithotomy. BJU Int 2013; 112: 89–93
  5. Tadros NN, Bland L, Legg E, Olyaei A, Conlin MJ. A single dose of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) prevents severe pain after ureteric stent removal: a prospective, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. BJU Int 2013; 111: 101–105
Original publication of this editorial can be found at: BJU Int 2013; 112: 1051–1052. doi: 10.1111/bju.12524

 

 

 

Would you really do a radical prostatectomy on a man with known metastatic prostate cancer?

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This year’s final #urojc concluded with intense discussions on the role of local treatment (LT) in metastatic prostate cancer. One study author, @mbwilliams95 joined the conversation to provide valuable insights.

 

 

 

Despite the fact only a small number of Stage IV patients had LT between 2004-2010 (post docetaxel era), this population based study revealed statistically significant differences between overall survival (OS) and disease specific survival (DSS).

Treatment Patient number 5 yr OS (%) DSS (%)
Radical prostatectomy
(RP)		 245 67.4 75.8
Brachytherapy(BT) 129 52.6 61.3
No surgery or radiation (NSR) 7811 22.5 48.7

 

So, can this be the start of a paradigm shift?

We may need to question our conventional approach.

Although some would consider performing RP in this population,

Others disagreed

Tzelepi et al (J Clin Oncol 2011 Jun 20;29(18):2574-81) suggested that potentially lethal cancers persist in the primary tumor and may contribute to progression. This is a possible explanation for this study’s findings, which echoed earlier results by Swanson et al (J Urol. 2006 Oct;176: 1292-8) and Shao et al (Eur Urol 2013 May 21. [Epub ahead of print]). However, SEER lacks information regarding the extent of bony metastasis, an entity that undoubtedly influences patient survival. Furthermore, patients treated with RP were 10 yrs younger than the NSR group (62 vs 72), and had a higher proportion of those with PSA <20.

To reduce bias produced by significant comorbidities, authors excluded those dying within a year of diagnosis and found the 5-yr OS continued to be higher in patients undergoing RP (76.5%) or BT (58.2%). However, patients with three or more of: age ≥70 yr, cT4 disease, PSA ≥20 ng/ml, high-grade disease, and pelvic lymphadenopathy had a 5-yr OS survival (38.2%) and a DSS probability (50.1%) similar to NSR patients.

Several contributors identified that Will Rogers phenomenon may be at play

Ultimately, the jury is still out on what is the most effective treatment of significant prostate cancer

Studies (in addition to the follow-on cohort study arising from this review), are underway

To conclude, it has been

In spite of the global participation, much of the banter involved our US urological colleagues.  On this basis, the Best Tweet Prize has been awarded to a provocative tweet from our UK colleague Ben Challacombe (@benchallacombe).

Thank you to European Urology (@EUPlatinum) for allow open access to the article discussed this month.  Thank you to Nature Reviews Urology for supporting the Best Tweet prize, which is a complimentary 12 months on-line subscription to the journal.

We look forward to seeing you at the January #urojc.

 

Dr Janice Cheng is an Australian Urology Trainee, currently based at Western Hospital. She has an interest in teaching, and enjoys laparoscopies, endoscopies, as well as male/female incontinence management. Twitter @JustUro

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