Update of Guidelines for Management of Prostate Cancer in West Africa 2019: Consensus Working Document

The purpose is to update the consensus statements on management of prostate cancer in West Africa. In 2010, "Prostate Cancer: Guidelines for diagnosis and treatment in West Africa" was first published. Since then, there have been several developments in diagnosis and management of prostate cancer. These need to be incorporated to produce a 2019 update. The aspiration is that it will serve as a benchmark for the basic standard of care for patients with prostate cancer in West Africa or even as a working document for the development of guidelines for treatment of prostate cancer by urological associations, other professional societies, institutions or government.

A search of the literature was performed to identify recent studies. Those of relevance to West Africa, were extracted for evaluation to enable update of the recommendations.

There are three themes (screening/diagnosis, clinical pathology, treatment) with 20 guideline topics covering screening, diagnosis, staging, grading, classification and management. New evidence in screening, definition of normal prostate-specific antigen, and use of pre-biopsy magnetic resonance imaging, have been incorporated.

This update will serve as a benchmark to assist clinicians in achieving best practice in the management of prostate cancer. It should also serve as a trigger for audits and research towards improving access to effective diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer in West Africa.