Overview

Patterns of care in prostate cancer have changed tremendously in the past 20 years, altering the way patients with this tumor present and how they are evaluated before and after diagnosis. With the use of new and combined treatments, the frequency and variety of complications have differed from those previously reported. Advances have been made in prostate cancer imaging, in biopsy methodology, in understanding causative factors and disease, in treatment related quality of life, and in predicting the behavior of individual tumors using risk strata. Despite these advances, no consensus has emerged regarding the optimal treatment for the most common patient with prostate cancer.

There is a need for both oncologists and urologists to understand the rationale behind targeted therapy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer and how trial entry could improve the efficacy of drugs and decrease the toxicity. This activity seeks to educate urologists and other healthcare professionals about the latest advances in the prevention, screening, and treatment of prostate cancer. The International Prostate Cancer Update (IPCU) educational planning committee has identified the following educational gaps between recent research in prostate cancer and its integration into professional practice at the international, national, and community levels:

• Current best practices in prevention and screening of prostate cancer
• Promising therapies, issues, and economic concerns in the treatment of local disease
• Role of androgen deprivation therapy in 2010
• Emerging treatments for advanced and castration-resistant prostate cancer

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