Shifting focus to cancer survivorship in prostate cancer: challenges and opportunities

As strides have been achieved in cancer control, issues faced by survivors have become increasingly relevant. Currently, there are more than 10 million cancer survivors living in the US and consequently cancer survivorship has become a major health priority. Approximately 2 million prostate cancer survivors face a host of long-term and late effects following cancer therapy. Although progress has been made in recognizing many of the issues faced by survivors, gaps in comprehensive surveillance and management still exist.

In its recent report, From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition, the Institute of Medicine outlined deficits in the care provided to cancer survivors and proposed several mechanisms to improve the coordination and quality of follow-up care. Measures to achieve these objectives include improving communication between healthcare providers through a survivorship care plan, developing an evidence base to better support surveillance guidelines, and assessing different models of survivorship care.

Potential shortcomings in the recognition and management of ongoing issues faced by prostate cancer survivors may impact the overall quality of long-term care in this growing population. Although programs to address these issues have been proposed, they are in the earliest phase of development.