Prostate cancer survivorship, deaths, and health care management

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) remains an important public health burden. According to data from the American Cancer Society, PCa will account for an estimated 248,530 of all new cancer cases (26%) in males in the United States during 2021. 1 It is also estimated that there are currently more than 3.6 million male survivors in this country who are living with PCa, and this total number is projected to grow to more than 5 million male survivors by 2030. 2 A major context for Weiner et al's article titled "Cause of Death During Prostate Cancer Survivorship: A Contemporary, US Population-Based Analysis," which appears in this issue of Cancer, is that both the number of PCa survivors and the proportion of male PCa survivors as a part of the total male cancer survivor population are increasing. 3 Currently, approximately 4 in every 10 cancer survivors are PCa survivors, and by the end of this decade, that proportion will increase to nearly 5 in every 10. 2 Trying to determine causes of death after a diagnosis of PCa, Weiner et al 3 conducted a retrospective cohort study that was exploratory in nature, but they used a strong study design to compensate for limitations of previous studies. They assessed contemporary, population-based data for causes of death during PCa survivorship in the United States by using the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 18 registries, which collect data on approximately 34.6% of the US population, from 2000 to 2016. 4,5 Previous work has demonstrated that the regions of the United States reported by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program tend to be broadly generalizable to the general United States. 6 The authors also obtained additional access to the radiation/chemotherapy specialized data set, which was also used for analysis. 7 Causes of death after a PCa diagnosis were then stratified by patient characteristics and tumor stage. Finally, they compared the risk of death for each cause with the general US population.Straightforward, conservative statistical analyses were performed on the data. The causes of death for men with local/regional PCa as well as the causes of death for men with distant PCa were investigated. Additionally, there was an assessment of year of diagnosis and stage at diagnosis. Succinctly, men with early-stage PCa are 4-fold more likely to die of other causes, whereas those with advanced-stage PCa have an increased risk of several non-cancer-related causes in comparison with the general population.The work of Weiner et al 3 should be understood within the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Health care for patients with PCa can be characterized as an acute and intense period of treatment and surveillance administered by oncology teams. The health care management of patients with PCa has become more challenging with respect to prioritization, access to treatment, multiple adjustments, and attempts to tailor approaches.Obek et al 8 published a review and synopsis of currently available recommendations ...

Novel online comprehensive pelvic floor therapy program following prostatectomy

“…Patient training in these settings is also problematic as it is generally provided during more limited visits scheduled for prostate specific antigen (PSA) surveillance (e.g., every three months) rather than more frequent sessions that occur when undergoing physiotherapy (e.g., weekly). Finally, given the significant and increasing number of CaP survivors, it is also likely that the management of treatment effects including UI will be commonly managed by primary care providers ( 4 ).…”

“…PPI is associated with a significant and deleterious impact to quality of life (QOL) and well-being ( 3 ). This data is even more concerning given the significant number of men surviving prostate cancer (CaP), with data estimating that CaP survivors account for 4 in every 10 cancer survivors and comprise more than 3.6 million men ( 4 , 5 ). As such, CaP survivorship has received increasing attention and long-term assessment and treatment of physical (e.g., urinary, sexual, bowel) and psychosocial effects of CaP treatment is recommended in the American Cancer Society CaP survivorship guidelines ( 6 ).…”

Blockade of exosome generation by GW4869 inhibits the education of M2 macrophages in prostate cancer

“…Author details 1 Jiangxi Academy of Medical Sciences, and Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Immunotherapy, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi, China. 2 Medical College of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi, China.…”

“…Currently, prostate cancer remains one of the main causes of male cancer-related death worldwide, and in particular, metastatic prostate cancer is challenging to manage due to the lack of effective therapeutic methods [ 1 ]. Hence, exploring the molecular mechanisms of prostate cancer is of great significance for its diagnosis and treatment.…”