Don't miss ASPI's 'Transitioning to Treatment' webinar aimed at patients on AS
Also come to the ZERO Summit support meeting
By Howard Wolinsky
Patients quit active surveillance (AS) for a variety of reasons.
One reason is patients’s disease “progresses” They’re found in a biopsy to have more advanced cancers—Gleason 4+3 or higher and the time has come to move on from active surveillance to active treatment, radiation or radical prostatectomies.
Active Surveillance Patients International is holding a webinar on “transitioning” from AS to aggressive treatments.
The session, which will be followed by a question-and-answer session, will be held at 12 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, February 25. To register, click here: https://bit.ly/3JUlRXq
For more details: https://bit.ly/3K0xPOW
The program will feature three patients who made “the transition”: Thrainn Thorvaldsson, an ASPI co-founder from Reykjavik, Iceland, and a pioneer in AS support; Joe Gallo, an ASPI board member from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Govinda Ramakrishna, who divides his time between Canada and India.
Mark Lichty, ASPI chair and co-founder, said: “Each of us has gone through, and continues on, the prostate cancer journey with a different story. The latest estimate in the United States is that approximately 50% of men on AS need to transition for various reasons in the five years following diagnosis.
“Isn’t that the way with prostate cancer… it is a long, winding, and unpredictable road —a divergent experience for all of us. Every one of you has your own narrative.”
AS’s dirty little secret: The dropout rate
By Howard Wolinsky
Active Surveillance has a huge dropout rate: 50% five years after diagnosis and 66% 10 years after.
I call this AS’s dirty little secret.
A growing number of doctors, and also support groups and TheActiveSurveillor.com strongly support the idea of active surveillance, if appropriate. Some of us have to move on.
60% of men with low-risk Gleason 6 now choose AS—vs. 6% in 2010 when I was diagnosed, a huge boost—but still the U.S. lags behind the 94% AS acceptance rate in Sweden and the 91% rate in Michigan.
Actress Bette (“Whatever Happened To Baby Jane”) Davis said, "Old age ain't no place for sissies " Neither is AS.
So many of us drop out.
Disease progression is an important reason to change course.
Other reasons include family pressure, rising PSAs, AS fatigue, emotional distress (anxiety and depression), PSA fatigue, and moving on to a more passive watchful waiting strategy as men age.
More research needs to be done on what steps can be taken to help more patients remain on AS—unless of course disease progression requires active treatment.
Join a virtual AS support group at the ZERO Summit
By Howard Wolinsky
The ZERO Summit is a premier annual event for the prostate cancer community.
Each year the community gathers to learn the latest in prostate cancer from medical experts, advocate for research and funding in meetings with legislators, and support each other through shared experience and camaraderie.
The Summit will take place February 26-28, 2023 in person in the Washington D.C. area, and virtually from any location via computer or smartphone.
Register at zerocancer.org/summit
You can meet up with me—an official “ZERO’s Hero” and my personal hero Joe Gallo in a virtual support group for active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer. on Monday Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. Eastern. (Sorry Californians.)
Save the date.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81479774486?pwd=T3V5a1ZvNzV2ZHVmSXkrTTQ4eFVFZz09