NCRI Cancer Conference: Men With Prostate Cancer Balance Quality of Life and Survival
Posted: Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Men who have been recently diagnosed with localized prostate cancer say they would trade an improvement in their chance of survival for better quality of life and reduced side effects. In addition, men with low/intermediate-risk prostate cancer seem to prefer active surveillance of the disease rather than radical therapy. Hashim U. Ahmed, PhD, BM, BCh, of the Imperial College London, presented these findings from the COMPARE study at the 2018 National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference in Glasgow (Abstract 1967).
“It’s easy to assume that patient’s key motivation is survival, but this research shows the situation is more nuanced,” noted Professor Ahmed in an NCRI press release. “Men…highly value treatments that have low side effects, so much so that, on average, they were willing to accept lower survival if it meant the risk of side effects was low.”
The COMPARE study used a three-stage process to determine patient preferences for managing localized prostate cancer. Of the 634 men included in the study, 74% had low/intermediate-risk disease, whereas 26% had high-risk disease. All of the men had been told their diagnosis and were given general information, but they had not yet discussed specific treatment with their clinicians.
All men valued survival first when making treatment decisions, followed by no incontinence, no need of further treatment, and no impotence. For a 1% chance of maintaining urinary function, not needing further treatment, or maintaining sexual function, men were willing to give up a 0.68%, 0.41%, and 0.28% chance of survival, respectively.
According to Professor Ahmed, more research is needed on less-invasive treatments such as focal therapy and how active surveillance can be improved by using imaging instead of repeat biopsies.
