Associate Professor Henry Woo shared with the SAH PCSG Network on 27 May 2013 the American Urological Association (AUA) prostate cancer guidelines.

These guidelines were announced at the recent AUA Annual Meeting in San Diego, California.

The AUA is the peak urological body in the USA and holds the largest urological conference in the world.

To prevent over-diagnosis and treatment (which has long been a contentious issue) the following guidelines were presented:

1. Detection or prostate cancer

The methodology used was to make a comprehensive literature search and the reviewed articles were used to inform the statements presented in the guidelines as standards, recommendations, or options. When sufficient evidence existed, the body of evidence for a particular treatment was assigned a strength rating of A (high), B (medium) or C (Low). Without sufficient evidence, additional information is provided as clinical principles and expert opinions. This then allows for the medical professional to check which guidelines the potential patient falls into. There are five key statements.

2. Castration-resistant prostate cancer

With Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (CRPC), there is a more complicated set of guidelines and the intricacies are best left for the medical professional to interpret as within each "index patient" there are any number of approaches for treatments. Broadly there are six index patients which were developed representing the most common clinical scenarios that are encountered in clinical practice. Each gives options which uses some drugs that are available in Australia and some that are not. All castration-resistant prostate cancer patients will fall into one of the options listed under each of the six index patients. The clinician is challenged with a multitude of treatment options and potential sequencing of approved therapeutic agents for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

3. Radiation after prostatectomy.

Woo spoke about the use of radiation after a radical prostatectomy too and when it should be used.

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