BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - Part of the recent debate as to the benefit of PSA for detecting prostate cancer is the effect of treatment (e.g. prostatectomy) on the man’s quality of life. Long-term survival outcomes, including adverse effects were of concern and noted in the United States Preventive Services Task Force rating of “not recommended” for a PSA (www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspsprca.htm). The study, by Taylor and colleagues (2012), is timely as it reports on the effect of treatment on long-term disease-specific functioning on survivors in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) up to 10 years post-diagnosis.
Compared with radical prostatectomy patients (n = 201), radiation-therapy patients (n=110) reported better sexual and urinary functioning but poorer bowel outcomes. Men who received treatment combinations including androgen deprivation (n=207) reported significantly poorer hormone-related symptoms compared with radical prostatectomy patients.
This study is important as it shows the long-term effects of treatments for prostate cancer as more than 95% of men in each treatment group reported having at least some sexual dysfunction, and 50% of men in each treatment group reported having at least some urinary and bowel dysfunction.
The results in this study show the importance of informed consent that clinicians should impart when counseling men with prostate cancer so they can be prepared for post-treatment bladder, bowel and sexual adverse effects.
Taylor KL, Luta G, Miller AB, Church TR, Kelly SP, Muenz LR, Davis KM, Dawson DL, Edmond S, Reding D, Mabie JE, Riley TL
J Clin Oncol. 2012 Jun 25. [Epub ahead of print]
doi: 10.1200/JCO.2011.41.2767
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22734029
Written for UroToday.com by Diane K. Newman, DNP, FAAN, BCB-PMD, Co-Director, Penn Center for Continence and Pelvic Health Director, Clinical Trials, Division of Urology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center
