Chance of Prostate Ca Recurrence

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Anchor lead: Do different ethnic groups have different risks for prostate cancer to recur? Elizabeth Tracey reports

When Black and Caucasian men develop low risk prostate cancer, does active surveillance yield equal risk for progression? William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, says Black men in this large VA study did indeed develop more aggressive disease more often.

Nelson: They had a significantly increased chance that the disease would sprout something more aggressive. So about 59% versus 48.3% would need some more aggressive treatment. They did not find any difference in the propensity to develop metastatic disease; it was incredibly low. One and a half percent basically. It was very safe to do this, but African American men had a slightly higher chance to perhaps need more aggressive treatment at some point in the future.  :31

Nelson says this study confirms the safety of this approach for men of different ethnicities, and notes it underscores the need to be vigilant for signs of accelerating prostate cancer. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.