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Prostate cancer is expected to be diagnosed in over 900,000 men worldwide this year along.
In the United States, there will be more than 200,000 new diagnoses. The majority of patients
over 90% will be diagnosed with localized regional disease and overall survival percent
is 100% at five years. That being said the remains the risk for recurrent disease in
patients with diagnosed with prostate caner. The estimated risk may depend upon various
clinical factors at the time of the diagnosis. This could include the level of the PSA, the
extent of disease and the grade of the tumor as determined by the Gleason score on the
biopsy. For example, patients with more extensive disease, higher PSA, and a higher Gleason
score diagnosis would have a higher risk for disease recurrence. Patients who have lower
PSA, lower Gleason score, and localized disease might have a lower risk for recurrent disease.
If patients do recur, treatment options would depend upon how they recur, for example, patient
with localized disease may be candidate for various salvage approaches with salvage surgery
or salvage radiation. Patients who recur with more extensive disease, treatment options
might include various systemic therapies including hormonal therapy.
Some prostate cancers are high risk, aggressive, and more likely to spread. Others are low
risk, least likely to have bad outcomes. The biopsy says cancer, but current diagnostic
tools provide limited information about how aggressive a man's individual disease is,
so most men decide to treat prostate cancer immediately. Once treated, many men experience
serious long-term side effects like incontinence and *** impotence. Immediate treatment
is not always needed, but right now a man can't be sure if his cancer is the kind that
is likely to require treatment or if he is okay to wait for now. What if there was a
test that could determine how aggressive prostate cancer is. Genomic health is developing a
new test to do just that. By reviewing the underlying biology of the tumor and using
genes from multiple biologic pathways, the test can predict the aggressiveness of prostate
cancer when diagnosed, allowing a man to make a more informed treatment decision with confidence,
taking care of himself with more information and greater peace of mind.