New American Cancer Society Prostate Cancer Survivorship Care guidelines released outline posttreatment clinical follow-up care for the myriad of long-term and late effects an estimated 2.8 million prostate cancer survivors in the United States may face. The guidelines report is published Early Online in the Society's journal, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
The guidelines are designed to promote optimal health and quality of life for the posttreatment prostate cancer survivor by facilitating the delivery of comprehensive posttreatment care by primary care clinicians. They are based on recommendations set forth by an expert panel convened as part of the work of the National Cancer Survivorship Resource Center, a collaboration between the American Cancer Society and The George Washington University Cancer Institute, funded by a 5-year cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Prostate cancer survivors represent more than four in ten male cancer survivors and one in five of all cancer survivors in the United States. While guidelines exist for treatment and surveillance for recurrent disease, availability of guidelines for long-term posttreatment care is limited. The American Cancer Society Prostate Cancer Survivorship Care guidelines were developed using a combined approach of evidence synthesis and expert consensus. They address health promotion, surveillance for recurrence and screening for second primary cancers, and the assessment and management of physical and psychosocial long-term and late effects resulting from prostate cancer and its treatment. A key challenge to the development of the guidelines was the limited availability of published evidence informing the clinical management of prostate cancer survivors after treatment.
Among the recommendations:
"We are hopeful that the hard work that went into the development of these much-needed guidelines will pay off in improved care for the approximately 240,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer every year," said Rebecca Cowens-Alvarado, MPH, principal investigator for the National Cancer Survivorship Resource Center, director of Cancer Control Mission Strategy at the American Cancer Society and co-author of the report. "The adoption of these guidelines will be a critical step forward to improve the delivery of prostate cancer survivorship care."
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