Initial Management of Noncastrate Advanced, Recurrent, or Metastatic Prostate Cancer: ASCO Guideline Update.

Purpose: Update all preceding ASCO guidelines on initial hormonal management of noncastrate advanced, recurrent, or metastatic prostate cancer.

Methods: The Expert Panel based recommendations on a systematic literature review. Recommendations were approved by the Expert Panel and the ASCO Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee.

Treatment patterns and medication adherence among patients diagnosed with multiple myeloma and treated with panobinostat.

Aim: To examine real-world treatment patterns in multiple myeloma (MM) patients treated with panobinostat.

Materials & Methods: Using a US claims database, MM patients treated with panobinostat during 02/01/2015-01/31/2017 were evaluated. Lines of therapy, combination regimens, dosing and duration were measured.

Long-term quality of life after definitive treatment for prostate cancer: patient-reported outcomes in the second posttreatment decade.

Definitive treatment for prostate cancer includes radical prostatectomy (RP), external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), and brachytherapy (BT). The different side effect profiles of these options are crucial factors for patients and clinicians when deciding between treatments. This study reports long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for patients in their second decade after treatment for prostate cancer.

The Health Effects of Masculine Self-Esteem Following Treatment for Localized Prostate Cancer Among Gay Men.

Purpose: To identify factors associated with masculine self-esteem in gay men following treatment for localized prostate cancer (PCa) and to determine the association between masculine self-esteem, PCa-specific factors, and mental health factors in these patients.

Methods: A national cross-sectional survey of gay PCa survivors was conducted in 2010-2011. To be eligible for the study, men needed to be age 50 or older, reside in the United States, self-identify as gay, able to read, write, and speak English, and to have been treated for PCa at least 1 year ago.

Impact of comorbidity on health-related quality of life after prostate cancer treatment: combined analysis of two prospective cohort studies.

Objective: To improve and individualise estimates of treatment outcomes for men diagnosed with prostate cancer, we examined the impact of baseline comorbidity on health-related quality of life (HRQL) outcomes in an analysis of two pooled, prospective cohort studies.

Patients And Methods: We studied 697 patients from three academic hospitals who received radical prostatectomy (RP), external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), or brachytherapy (BT). Measures of patient-reported bowel, urinary, and sexual symptoms along with physical and mental health were prospectively collected before treatment and 3, 12, 24, and 36 months after treatment.

Using patient-reported outcomes to assess and improve prostate cancer brachytherapy.

Objective: To describe a successful quality improvement process that arose from unexpected differences in control groups' short-term patient-reported outcomes (PROs) within a comparative effectiveness study of a prostate brachytherapy technique intended to reduce urinary morbidity.

Patients And Methods: Patients planning prostate brachytherapy at one of three institutions were enrolled in a prospective cohort study. Patients were surveyed using a validated instrument to assess treatment-related toxicity before treatment and at pre-specified intervals.

Ensuring comprehensive assessment of urinary problems in prostate cancer through patient-physician concordance.

Objectives: To examine the concordance between clinicians and men diagnosed with prostate cancer on a clinician-derived pathophysiological classification of the following self-reported urinary complications: storage (irritative), voiding (obstructive), and leakage/incontinence.

Materials And Methods: Fourteen urology experts classified 37 urinary function questionnaire items into 3 primary conceptual dimensions (e.g.

Patient-reported outcomes after 3-dimensional conformal, intensity-modulated, or proton beam radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer.

Background: Recent studies have suggested differing toxicity patterns for patients with prostate cancer who receive treatment with 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), or proton beam therapy (PBT).

Methods: The authors reviewed patient-reported outcomes data collected prospectively using validated instruments that assessed bowel and urinary quality of life (QOL) for patients with localized prostate cancer who received 3DCRT (n = 123), IMRT (n = 153) or PBT (n = 95). Clinically meaningful differences in mean QOL scores were defined as those exceeding half the standard deviation of the baseline mean value.

Costs of home versus inpatient treatment for fever and neutropenia: analysis of a multicenter randomized trial.

Purpose: For patients with cancer who have febrile neutropenia, relative costs of home versus hospital treatment, including unreimbursed costs borne by patients and families, are poorly characterized. We estimated costs from a randomized trial of patients with low-risk febrile neutropenia for whom outpatient care was feasible, comparing inpatient treatment with discharge to home care after inpatient observation.

Methods: We collected direct medical and self-reported indirect costs for 57 inpatient and 35 outpatient treatment episodes of patients enrolled in a randomized trial from 1996 through 2000.

Safety of early discharge for low-risk patients with febrile neutropenia: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: Febrile neutropenia commonly complicates cancer chemotherapy. Outpatient treatment may reduce costs and improve patient comfort but risk progression of undetected medical problems.

Patients And Methods: By using our validated algorithm, we identified medically stable inpatients admitted for febrile neutropenia (neutrophils < 500/μL) after chemotherapy and randomly assigned them to continued inpatient antibiotic therapy or early discharge to receive identical antibiotic treatment at home.

Long-term quality of life outcome after proton beam monotherapy for localized prostate cancer.

Objectives: High-dose external radiation for localized prostate cancer results in favorable clinical outcomes and low toxicity rates. Here, we report long-term quality of life (QOL) outcome for men treated with conformal protons.

Methods: QOL questionnaires were sent at specified intervals to 95 men who received proton radiation.

Patient-reported long-term outcomes after conventional and high-dose combined proton and photon radiation for early prostate cancer.

Context: Increased radiation doses improve prostate cancer control but also increase toxicity to adjacent normal tissue. Proton radiation may attenuate adverse effects.

Objective: To determine long-term, patient-reported, dose-related toxicity.

Rectal dose-volume histogram parameters are associated with long-term patient-reported gastrointestinal quality of life after conventional and high-dose radiation for prostate cancer: a subgroup analysis of a randomized trial.

Purpose: We examined whether rectal dose-volume histogram (DVH) parameters were associated with long-term patient-reported gastrointestinal (GI) quality of life (QOL) after conventional (70.2 GyE) or high-dose (79.2 GyE) radiation for prostate cancer.

Patient-reported acute gastrointestinal symptoms during concurrent chemoradiation treatment for rectal cancer.

Background: Although it is known that standard 5-fluorouracil-based chemoradiation therapy for rectal cancer causes significant acute gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity, research on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is limited. The authors undertook the current study to assess the feasibility of incorporating PRO measurement into routine clinical practice and to describe the trajectory of symptom development during treatment.

Methods: Seventy-seven consecutive patients who were treated between 2006 and 2008 were eligible.

Race, healthcare access and physician trust among prostate cancer patients.

Objective: To study the effect of healthcare access and other characteristics on physician trust among black and white prostate cancer patients.

Methods: A three-timepoint follow-up telephone survey after cancer diagnosis was conducted. This study analyzed data on 474 patients and their 1,320 interviews over three time periods.

Racial differences in trust and regular source of patient care and the implications for prostate cancer screening use.

Background: : Nonmedical factors may modify the biological risk of prostate cancer (PCa) and contribute to the differential use of early detection; curative care; and, ultimately, greater racial disparities in PCa mortality. In this study, the authors examined patients' usual source of care, continuity of care, and mistrust of physicians and their association with racial differences in PCa screening.

Methods: : Study nurses conducted in-home interviews of 1031 African-American men and Caucasian-American men aged > or =50 years in North Carolina and Louisiana within weeks of their PCa diagnosis.

Individualizing quality-of-life outcomes reporting: how localized prostate cancer treatments affect patients with different levels of baseline urinary, bowel, and sexual function.

Purpose: Although it is the most powerful predictor of early prostate cancer treatment-related complications and quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes, most studies do not stratify results by baseline function. Further, reporting functional outcomes as averaged numerical results may obscure informatively disparate courses. Using levels of treatment-related dysfunction, we address these problems and present the final QOL outcomes of our prospective cohort study of patients with early prostate cancer.

Perceived family history risk and symptomatic diagnosis of prostate cancer: the North Carolina Prostate Cancer Outcomes study.

Background: Prostate cancer (PrCA) is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among US men. African American (AA) men remain at significantly greater risk of PrCA diagnosis and mortality than other men. Many factors contribute to the experienced disparities.