Late Breaking News: A preview

One of the final sessions of the congress will host three speakers presenting the very latest developments in their research. The Late Breaking News presentations, part of the fourth plenary session, will provide real “scoops” for attending urologists. All three presentations will deal with prostate cancer, featuring analysis of new results of long-term studies.

Prof. Hein van Poppel (Leuven, Belgium) will present “Adjuvant radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy in patients with pathologically high risk prostate cancer: 10-year follow-up results”. This is a continuation of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) trial 22911, concerning men treated for PCa through radical prostatectomy.

Following the prostatectomy, the patients were split into two groups; one treated with adjuvant radiotherapy and one on a basis of “wait-and-see”. Following 2005’s five-year analysis, this year’s study presents new findings on a longer term. The effects of an older median age on the two groups and the impact this has on progression-free survival have been thoroughly examined and the results will be presented to a wider audience for the first time.

Dr. Neil Fleshner (Toronto, Canada) will then present a lecture featuring results of the recently completed Reduction by Dutasteride of clinical progression Events in Expectant Management (REDEEM) trial. The effect of baseline characteristics on the relative risk of prostate cancer progression will be examined.

The study took place over the course of three years, examining the effects of dutasteride on low-risk PCa patients. Significant results have been demonstrated, including a lowered risk of PCa progression and reduced levels of PCa-related anxiety. Fleshner characterises the results as “a major finding with practice-changing implications.”

Prof. Fritz Schröder (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) is presenting the latest results of the ongoing European Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC). This will use twelve-year results from the ongoing programme, allowing the first careful conclusions to be drawn on the prevention of metastatic disease.

“This data consists of contributions from the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland,” Schröder explained. “The results from the long-term screening will be of help for clinicians, because the prevention of metastatic disease is a major clinical concern. In this study, we could show that screening significantly reduces the rate of metastatic disease. In addition, it was possible to determine the time between the finding of metastatic disease and death by PCa in the screened and in the control group. Clinicians will be interested to hear of this, as- they have to deal with these windows in the management of metastatic PCa.”

While the main findings of the twelve-year data will remain under wraps until the last moment, Prof. Schröder was at liberty to mention that the results of long-term screening “could be considered at least confirmatory. While the downsides of screening are very clear at the moment, the positive effects only become clear with time.”