Fast Facts: Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is unusual among solid tumors in that the majority of affected men die with, rather than of, the disease. This presents many challenges to healthcare professionals and patients in terms of deciding if, when and how to intervene in order to control tumor growth and spread, thereby extending survival but without compromising quality of life.

This is the ninth edition of Fast Facts: Prostate Cancer since 1996, testament to the rapid changes in the field and the steadily improving outlook for patients.

This new edition provides many key updates:

- the Gleason grade grouping, which has valuable prognostic value

- nomograms to evaluate risk

- our rapidly expanding understanding of the genetics and underlying pathogenesis of prostate cancer and the development of genomic tests to help identify those at greatest risk of developing clinically significant disease

- the continuing debate about the role of PSA in the screening, detection and monitoring of prostate cancer

- advances in imaging techniques, particularly multiparametric MRI, which is improving the accuracy of biopsy and reducing the numbers of negative biopsies

- the roles of drugs, surgery and radiotherapy in the treatment of prostate cancer at different stages, and our ever-improving understanding of when and how best to intervene, aided by improving understanding of the risk factors for disease progression.

Primarily intended for primary care providers, specialist nurses, junior doctors and allied healthcare professionals, this highly readable resource provides a comprehensive overview of prostate cancer, enabling fully informed discussions with patients about this complex disease.

If you are a clinician and you're going to read only one easy-to-read book about prostate cancer, make it this one. Then lend it to those patients who wish to know more. --Inderbir S. Gill, Keck School of Medicine