Estimating the risk of long-term erectile, urinary and bowel symptoms resulting from prostate cancer treatment.
Reports on long-term complications resulting from treatment for localized prostate cancer are very inconsistent. In order to estimate the risks of long-term erectile dysfunction, urine symptoms and bowel symptoms following prostatectomy (RP), external conventional or conformal beam radiation (ERT or CRT) and brachytherapy (BRT), 98 papers from the PubMed and Cochrane Clinical Trial databases were selected, reviewed and critically evaluated. The majority of papers were institution-based retrospective and prospective follow-up studies; only two of these studies measured the risk of developing more than one treatment complication. Due to differences in study designs and populations, it is difficult to directly compare studies and not meaningful to calculate summary estimates. In addition to focusing on randomized clinical trials and well-designed population based studies, future research should adopt standardized methodologies and should measure the risk of developing more than one treatment complication.
Bhatnagar
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Health Services Research and Development, Center for Patient Oriented Care, Veteran's Affairs San Diego Health Care System, CA, USA. vbhatnag@ucsd.edu
Stewart
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Huynh
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Jorgensen
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Kaplan
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RM
D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D011468:Prostatectomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D011788:Quality of Life; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology