AAMC has compiled a list of five ways in which prostate cancer treatments have improved in recent times, providing patients with options that are “more precise, less harmful, less invasive, and more personalized.”
Prostate cancer is the “second-most common cancer diagnosed in males in the United States after skin cancer.” 236,659 new prostate cancers were reported in 2021 alone, and the disease killed 33,363 men in 2022. In addition, about “40 percent of men over age 65 have low-grade prostate cancer, yet many of them never know it.”
One improvement cited in the article is active surveillance as a result of “continuing improvement of diagnostics” and “the expansion of treatments for various levels and characteristics of prostate cancer.” Active surveillance can delay when somebody might need treatment, leading to fewer surgeries that may not have been necessary. Another improvement is that there is less burden on patients as treatments have evolved to reduce side effects. Surgeons are now better able to get “more precise images of the cancerous tumor and are better able to target it while doing less damage to surrounding tissue.”
Genomic evaluation has also grown stronger in identifying DNA mutations in certain patients that could “influence how they respond to specific treatments.” Hormone reduction has also improved and now significantly improve survival in patients with prostate cancer. Finally, robotic surgery has evolved in past decades, leading to fewer side effects such as blood loss and pain in patients who require prostatectomies.
