Prostate Cancer Patients Undergoing Active Surveillance Are Not Receiving the Proper Follow-Up.

A recent study from UCLA published in the December 1st issue of Cancer, included 3,600 men who had opted for active surveillance in place of aggressive treatment as a means of following the status of their prostate cancer.  The study found that only 4.5% received proper monitoring in collaboration with their physician.  Recommended monitoring includes regular prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening, physical exams and at least one prostate biopsy every two years.  The study urges that before a patient and his physician decide on a prostate cancer strategy of active surveillance, they should mutually commit to closely monitoring the cancer via such PSA testing, physical exams and repeat biopsies as necessary.  A summary of the study was published in MedLine Plus from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  For further details, see the following article published online in Prostate Cancer News Today on December 2nd.  A excellent summary of these developments was also published in Cancer Network of the journal Oncology, December 3, 2015.