Prostate cancer, SIUrO president Lapini: “Cancer has a strong impact but it can be defeated. The password must be multidisciplinary”. The most impaired activities: work (61%) and sex (57%)
The prostate cancer strongly impacts on daily life. Eight out of ten patients report that their ordinary activities are impaired due to the disease. These include work (61%), sex (57%), hobbies (48%) and sport (27%). Difficulties are also encountered in the treatment process, especially in this period in which the Covid-19 is still affecting the national health system. 35% of patients have difficulty in contacting the specialist doctor, 36% struggle to access follow up exams and 23% find it very difficult to fill out health records. More than half of the patients consider the assistance from territorial medicine to be insufficient. This is what emerges from an online survey carried out among 411 patients and promoted by Italian Society of Uro-Oncology (SIUrO). The results were presented during the webinar “Prostate Cancer “ which was broadcast, in recent days, on the Facebook page of the Scientific Society. It was the first of a series of online events that are part of the project “SIURO Meet Patients and Caregivers“: once a month the experts of the SIUrO they will address all aspects of urological tumors at 360 degrees (prevention, therapies, impact on daily life, bureaucratic-administrative difficulties, rehabilitation). Patients, caregivers, medical-health personnel as well as simple web users will be able to ask questions directly to the specialists.
“Prostate cancer has become the most frequent in the male population of almost all Western countries,” he said Alberto Lapini, National President of the SIUrO -. The number of new cases is increasing in Italy also thanks to the greater probability of diagnosis. Today it is possible to cure it thanks to an ever wider therapeutic armamentarium and the results obtained in terms of survival are remarkable. However, some problems persist, as the survey we have promoted in recent weeks has clearly shown. More than 90% of patients have experienced changes on a psycho-physical level and the neoplasm has a negative impact especially at the uro-andrological level. In fact, 21% of patients claim to have had problems with impotence, 19% of incontinence and 11% of infertility. Then there are other contraindications related to the treatments such as hair loss, gastrointestinal disorders, pain, asthenia or depression. However, it should be remembered that these are temporary side effects and that in any case the new treatments guarantee a good quality of life “.
“The prostate cancer it is a very complex pathology – he added Sergio BracardaPresidente Incoming SIUrO -. Now we are able to precisely identify various biological information and we can also learn more about the various settings, or the clinical conditions, in which cancer occurs: localized, locally advanced or metastatic disease. Based on these variables, it is necessary to prescribe the best course of treatment for the individual patient. At this time we already have five treatments available that increase survival in advanced cases and additional drugs are emerging or are already available, such as PARP inhibitors, new hormonal agents and the possible use of radio-metabolic treatments for advanced cancers. It should also be remembered that the use of oral drugs at the patient’s home represented an important therapeutic option, particularly in the most difficult moments of the pandemic, when hospitals were under severe pressure. Research is also progressing to obtain increasingly innovative and targeted treatments that take into account the needs and expectations of an increasing number of patients “.
“As far as radiotherapy is concerned, the survey shows how it is administered to one out of four patients – he stressed Rolando D’Angelilloprofessor of Radiotherapy, atUniversity of Rome Tor Vergata -. Thanks to technological and scientific innovation, the treatment is very precise and selective and only cancer cells are actually affected by radiation. It therefore plays an important role in all stages of the disease exclusively or multimodal to surgical and pharmacological treatment “.
The project will continue in the coming months “SIURO Meet Patients and Caregivers“with other online meetings dedicated to the main ones genitourinary tumors. Always in the wake of the multidisciplinary tradition of the Scientific Societies, various specialists will participate in each event: urologists, oncologists, radiotherapists and pathologists. “As in all urological neoplasms, also for the prostate cancer the watchword must be multidisciplinary – concluded the president Lapini -. This approach must include active collaboration between the different specialists involved in patient management. The benefits are remarkable as several scientific studies and researches have shown. In fact, the results for the patient improve, adherence to guidelines is favored and the various possible treatments can be foreseen. Therefore, multidisciplinarity must be promoted throughout the national territory “.