Prostate cancer. Magnitude of the problem. American College of Surgeons database and epidemiologic study

The third American College of Surgeons pattern of care survey for cancer of the prostate is underway to document the current methods and means of presentation, diagnosis, and clinical management of patients in the United States.

Questions about the geographic distribution and methods of treatment by stage and grade together with patient mix and survival information will be answered from the data collected from more than 950 hospitals across the United States for the period 1984-1990. May 1992 was the final date for submission of data for this survey.

Prostate cancer continues to be the most common cancer in men, excluding skin cancer. The annual number of patients with this disease reported in the National Cancer Database for 1988 was 26,957, an increase of 9427 cases yearly since the end of the second American College of Surgeons' survey in 1983.