Faculty Bibliography

Background: Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors are commonly used for management of erectile dysfunction after prostate cancer (CaP) treatment. Single-institution studies have reported conflicting data on PDE5i use and recurrence after radical prostatectomy (RP). We re-evaluated the association between PDE5i use after RP and RT with biochemical recurrence in a nationwide, population-based registry. Methods: We performed a nested case-control study using data from the National Prostate Cancer Register of Sweden (including >98% prostate cancer cases nationwide), linked to the national Prescribed Drug Register. Among men with localized CaP who underwent primary RT or RP from 20062007 with 5 years of follow-up, we identified those with biochemical recurrence (n=293 cases). For each case, we identified 20 controls who were recurrence-free at the event date of the index case, using incidence density sampling stratified by age and treatment (n=5,767 controls). Multivariable conditional logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between overall PDE5i use and cumulative pill number with biochemical recurrence. Results: Among men treated by RT, PDE5i were not associated with BCR (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.48-1.94), adjusting for marital status, education, income, PSA, clinical stage, Gleason score, and proportion of positive biopsies. As shown in the table, PDE5i were not associated with biochemical recurrence after RP adjusting for clinical features (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.60-1.05), or with additional adjustment for surgical pathology (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.62-1.10). Men whose cumulative number of PDE5i pills was above the median had a slightly lower risk of biochemical recurrence in the clinical model, and no difference in risk of biochemical recurrence after adjustment for RP features. Conclusions: Our results from a population-based setting suggest against an increased risk of biochemical recurrence among men using PDE5i after CaP treatment. (Table Presented)

PURPOSE: While major prostate cancer active surveillance (AS) programs recommend repeat testing such as PSA and prostate biopsy, compliance with such testing is unknown. Our objective was to determine whether men in the community receive the same intensity of AS testing as in prospective AS protocols. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of men aged >/=66 in the SEER-Medicare database diagnosed with prostate cancer from 2001-2009 who did not receive curative therapy in the year after diagnosis with >/=1 post-diagnosis prostate biopsy. We used multivariable-adjusted Poisson regression to determine the association between frequency of AS testing with patient demographics and clinical features. Among 1349 men with /=14 PSA and >/=2 biopsy), and at Johns Hopkins (>/=10 PSA and >/=4 biopsy). RESULTS: Among 5192 patients undergoing AS, >80% had >/=1 PSA test per year but <13% received biopsy beyond the first 2 years. MRI was rarely used during the study period. On multivariable analysis, recent diagnosis and higher income were associated with higher frequency of surveillance biopsy, while older age and greater comorbidity were associated with fewer biopsies. African American men underwent fewer PSAs but similar numbers of biopsies. During 5 years of AS, only 11.1% and 5.0% met the testing standards of the Sunnybrook/PRIAS and Johns Hopkins programs. CONCLUSIONS: In the community, very few elderly men receive the intensity of AS testing recommended by major prospective AS programs.; Key of Definition for Abbreviations: AS=active surveillance, PCa=prostate cancer, PSA=prostate specific antigen, MRI=magnetic resonance imaging, NCCN=National Comprehensive Cancer Network, PRIAS=Prostate Cancer Research International Active Surveillance, WW=watchful waiting.

INTRODUCTION: The microblogging social media platform Twitter is increasingly being adopted in the urologic field. We aimed to analyze participants, tweet strategies, and tweet content of the Twitter discussion at a urologic conference. METHODS: A comprehensive analysis of the Twitter activity at the European Association of Urology Congress 2013 (#eau2013) was performed, including characteristics of user profiles, engagement and popularity measurements, characteristics and timing of tweets, and content analysis. RESULTS: Of 218 Twitter contributors, doctors (45%) were the most frequent, ahead of associations (15%), companies (10%), and journals (3%). However, journals had the highest tweet/participant rate (22 tweets/participant), profile activity (median: 1177, total tweets, 1805 followers, 979 following), and profile popularity (follower/following ratio: 2.1; retweet rank percentile: 96%). Links in a profile were associated with higher engagement (p<0.0001) and popularity (p<0.0001). Of 1572 tweets, 57% were original tweets, 71% contained mentions, 20% contained links, and 25% included pictures. The majority of tweets (88%) were during conference hours, with an average of 24.7 tweets/hour and a peak activity of 71 tweets/hour. Overall, 59% of tweets were informative, led by the topics uro-oncology (21%), urologic research (21%), and urotechnology (12%). Limitations include the analysis of a single conference analysis, assessment of global profile and not domain-specific activity, and the rapid evolution in Twitter-using habits. CONCLUSION: Results of this single conference qualitative analysis are promising for an enrichment of the scientific discussions at urologic conferences through the use of Twitter.

An increased risk of malignant melanoma has been observed in men with prostate cancer. To assess potential shared risk factors and confounding factors, we analysed risk of melanoma in men with prostate cancer including information on tumor characteristics and demographics including socioeconomic status. In The Prostate Cancer data Base Sweden, risk of melanoma was assessed in a cohort of men with prostate cancer and in a comparison cohort of prostate-cancer free men. Data on prostate cancer risk category, melanoma stage, basal cell carcinoma, location of residency, and socioeconomic status were obtained from nationwide registers. Melanoma was diagnosed in 830/108,145 (0.78%) men with prostate cancer and in 3,699/556,792 (0.66%) prostate cancer-free men. In multivariable Cox regression models, men with prostate cancer had a significantly increased risk of melanoma (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.09-1.27), and so had married men, men with high education and income, and men residing in southern Sweden. The strongest associations were observed for stage 0 melanoma in men with low-risk prostate cancer (HR 1.45, 1.14-1.86), high education (HR 1.87, 1.60-2.18) and top income (HR 1.61, 1.34-1.93), respectively, whereas there was no association between these factors and late-stage melanoma. Men with prostate cancer also had an increased risk of basal cell carcinoma (HR 1.18, 1.15-1.22). In conclusion, men with low-risk prostate cancer, high education, high income and residency in southern Sweden had an increased risk of early-stage melanoma.

OBJECTIVE:To assess the frequency of a novel prostate cancer-associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs188140481, in a North American population and to evaluate the clinical significance of this variant including annotated prostatectomy pathology. PATIENTS/SUBJECTS AND METHODS/UNASSIGNED:We examined the frequency of the minor allele at rs188140481 in 4299 North American men including 1979 men with prostate cancer and 2320 healthy volunteers. We compared the clinicopathological features of prostate cancer between carriers and non-carriers of the SNP. RESULTS:The rs188140481[A] SNP was present in 1.6% of the cohort; it was significantly more likely to be carried by men with prostate cancer than healthy controls (odds ratio 3.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.85-5.35). After adjusting for age and PSA levels, carriers were found to be 6.73-fold (95% CI 1.69-26.76) more likely to develop prostate cancer than non-carriers. Age at diagnosis, frequency of a positive family history of prostate cancer, and biochemical recurrence rates were similar between SNP carriers and non-carriers. Patients with the SNP had a proportionately higher frequency of stage ≥T2c disease (29.5% vs 20.1%; P = 0.13), Gleason ≥8 tumours (13.3% vs 6.5%; P = 0.10), and extracapsular extension (28.9% vs 18.8%; P = 0.12) compared with non-carriers. CONCLUSIONS:rs188140481[A] is a rare SNP that confers greater risk of prostate cancer compared with SNPs identified by genome-wide association studies. Because of its low frequency, larger studies are needed to validate the prognostic significance of this locus, and associations with adverse pathology.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:The Prostate Health Index (phi) is a new test combining total, free and [-2]proPSA into a single score. It was recently approved by the FDA and is now commercially available in the U.S., Europe and Australia. We investigate whether phi improves specificity for detecting clinically significant prostate cancer and can help reduce prostate cancer over diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:From a multicenter prospective trial we identified 658 men age 50 years or older with prostate specific antigen 4 to 10 ng/ml and normal digital rectal examination who underwent prostate biopsy. In this population we compared the performance of prostate specific antigen, % free prostate specific antigen, [-2]proPSA and phi to predict biopsy results and, specifically, the presence of clinically significant prostate cancer using multiple criteria. RESULTS:The Prostate Health Index was significantly higher in men with Gleason 7 or greater and "Epstein significant" cancer. On receiver operating characteristic analysis phi had the highest AUC for overall prostate cancer (AUCs phi 0.708, percent free prostate specific antigen 0.648, [-2]proPSA 0.550 and prostate specific antigen 0.516), Gleason 7 or greater (AUCs phi 0.707, percent free prostate specific antigen 0.661, [-2]proPSA 0.558, prostate specific antigen 0.551) and significant prostate cancer (AUCs phi 0.698, percent free prostate specific antigen 0.654, [-2]proPSA 0.550, prostate specific antigen 0.549). At the 90% sensitivity cut point for phi (a score less than 28.6) 30.1% of patients could have been spared an unnecessary biopsy for benign disease or insignificant prostate cancer compared to 21.7% using percent free prostate specific antigen. CONCLUSIONS:The new phi test outperforms its individual components of total, free and [-2]proPSA for the identification of clinically significant prostate cancer. Phi may be useful as part of a multivariable approach to reduce prostate biopsies and over diagnosis.