Influence of the Treating Physician in Low-Risk Prostate Cancer

Prospective randomized trials have demonstrated that curative-intent local therapy (surgery and radiotherapy) fails to improve survival for most older patients with favorable-risk prostate cancer (T1/T2a, prostate-specific antigen [PSA] <10 ng/mL, Gleason scores ≤6). Yet, many such patients undergo primary therapy.

Now, investigators at a major U.S. cancer center have conducted a population-based cohort study to determine the impact of urologists and radiation oncologists on the management of patients with low-risk disease selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The diagnosing urologists and consulting radiation oncologists were identified from Medicare claims data, and physician information was obtaine…