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No man’s land: information needs and resources of men with metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer

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Abstract

The majority of men treated for prostate cancer will eventually develop castrate-resistant disease (CRPC) with metastases (mCRPC). There are several options for further treatment: chemotherapy, third-line hormone therapy, radium, immunotherapy, and palliation. Current ASCO guidelines for survivors of prostate cancer recommend that an individual’s information needs at all stages of disease are assessed and that patients are provided with or referred to the appropriate sources for information and support. Earlier reviews have highlighted the dearth of such services and we wished to see if the situation had improved more recently. Unfortunately, we conclude that there is still a lack of good-quality congruent information easily accessible specifically for men with mCRPC and insufficient data regarding the risks, harms, and benefits of different management plans. More research providing a clear evidence base about treatment consequences using patient reported outcome measures is required.

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Acknowledgments

We thank pH Associates for the administrative support and Sanofi for funding this scoping exercise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sussex Health Outcomes Research & Education in Cancer (SHORE-C), Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RX, UK

    V. A. Jenkins & L. J. Fallowfield

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  1. V. A. Jenkins
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  2. L. J. Fallowfield
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Correspondence to V. A. Jenkins.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Jenkins and Professor Fallowfield’s group received funding from Ph Associates and Sanofi UK to conduct a scoping exercise in the area of mCRPC. The funders had no role in the research, literature review, or writing of this manuscript.

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Jenkins, V.A., Fallowfield, L.J. No man’s land: information needs and resources of men with metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer. Support Care Cancer 24, 4471–4473 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3358-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-016-3358-0

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