Avoiding obsolescence in advanced prostate cancer management: a guide for urologists

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers diagnosed in men in the USA and 20–30% of men treated for localised prostate cancer will fail therapy and develop advanced prostate cancer. More drugs have been approved for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer in the past 3 years than in the past three decades, and each drug has its own mechanism of action and, often, unique monitoring requirements. As the treatment landscape for men with advanced prostate cancer is undergoing significant expansion, the roles of both oncologists and urologists are shifting, and the decision for the urologist to treat vs refer requires early assessment to identify which patients are candidates for these novel treatments and the monitoring of patients for tolerability, response, and potential side-effects. Given these rapid changes, the authors of this review met in January 2013 and again in April 2013 to discuss the current challenges facing urologists in adopting these new treatments into their own practices. Here, we provide a brief overview of advanced prostate cancer medical therapies approved in the past decade, the necessary monitoring procedures and early detection methods needed to safely and effectively manage patients receiving these therapies, and our recommendations for applying these new therapies within different models of urology practice, such that urologists can remain an integral component of their patient's care once he has transitioned into advanced prostate cancer