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For men with early stage prostate cancer, the diagnosis often causes anxiety and the treatments may lead to unwanted side-effects. Still, the greatest challenge faced by these patients may be deciding upon the type of treatment they wish to receive. Though the curative options have not been compared directly in prospective, randomized trials, most data suggest that cure rates for early stage prostate cancer are nearly identical following radical prostatectomy, external beam radiotherapy, or prostate seed brachytherapy. The decision is often made more difficult by the subtle, inherent biases held by the consulting physicians. One recent study reported that when presented with a patient who has early stage prostate cancer, the overwhelming majority of urologists suggest surgery, the overwhelming majority of radiation oncologists recommend radiotherapy, and internal medicine doctors are split evenly in their treatment recommendation.
The urology and radiation oncology physician groups in the Blanchard Valley Health Systems have begun to offer joint consultation for patients who have been diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer. Once the diagnosis has been made and the work-up has been completed, patients are invited to meet at the Blanchard Valley Regional Cancer Center with physicians from both specialties to discuss treatment options while taking into account important factors such as age, tumor stage, Gleason score, serum prostate specific antigen levels, and prostate gland size. The early response to this team effort has been favorable, with patients grateful for the collaboration and appreciative for the ability to get recommendations without waiting days between visits to specialists.
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