prostate cancer

Prostate cancer patients in Nashville and Los Angeles are benefiting from a computer-based decision aid that implements the latest study results to tailor treatment options to an individual’s quality-of-life priorities.

Vanderbilt urologic surgeons are offering an alternative therapy for prostate cancer patients considered to be low-to-intermediate risk, a middle ground between active surveillance and aggressive therapy.

“When it’s you, it’s a whole different feeling,” Orrin Ingram said, gazing at logs burning in the fireplace.

In 2012, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that men of all ages should not be routinely screened for levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). That group now recommends that men ages 55 to 69 should talk with their doctors and make well-informed individual decisions about the potential harms and benefits of PSA screening, and treatment if cancer is found.

In 2012, the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that men of all ages should not be routinely screened for levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). These are the blood tests to detect the possibility of prostate cancer.

A federal task force has changed its recommendation about prostate cancer screening for some older men. The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) now recommends that men between the ages of 55 to 69 consult with their physicians about getting routine screening blood tests to detect prostate cancer.

Faced with the negative quality-of-life effects from surgery and radiation treatments for prostate cancer, low risk patients may instead want to consider active surveillance with their physician, according to a study released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).