🔬 🍁 Improving risk assessment strategies to personalize care for patients with prostate cancer 🍁🔬
Prostate cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death among Canadian men. However, not all cases are life-threatening. For those with low-risk prostate cancer, active surveillance is the standard of care, helping men avoid the side effects of surgery or radiation.
The challenge, however, lies in accurately identifying which patients can safely go on active surveillance without risking the progression of a potentially lethal tumour.
This is where Dr. Adam Kinnaird, a surgeon-scientist at the University of Alberta comes in. Thanks to new funding from a Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network’s Clinician-Scientist Award he will lead a project seeking to develop a sophisticated risk calculator that combines advanced imaging, biopsy techniques, and genetic data to better predict the likelihood of prostate cancer progression.
"As a Urologist, I see, diagnose, and treat men with prostate cancer every day. Many men on active surveillance are worried about their risk of progression and fear that delaying treatment may affect their life expectancy," explains Dr. Kinnaird. "Conversely, some men are desperate to avoid further diagnostic interventions like prostate biopsy. This project will provide evidence to help men and their clinicians make decisions about how often a repeat biopsy is needed without increasing the risk of missing an aggressive cancer."
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This tool could be a game-changer, helping clinicians and patients make informed decisions about treatment and monitoring, ultimately improving outcomes and quality of life through personalized, precision medicine.
Learn more about it ▶ https://lnkd.in/deEfjZDE
#ProstateCancer #CancerResearch #PrecisionMedicine #TeamCanadaOfCancerResearch The Terry Fox Research Institute The Terry Fox Foundation Health Canada | Santé Canada