Prepared by Geoff McLennan PCa Patient 5-22-20
ASPI PROCLAMATION FOR MENS PROSTATE CANCER (PCa) ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE (AS)
Have you been diagnosed with prostate cancer? Not all prostate cancers are deadly and, many do not need prolonged detection or treatment.
WHEREAS, nearly 200,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa) in the US annually, and likely hundreds of thousands worldwide, and
WHEREAS, approximately 50% of American men recently diagnosed with low risk prostate cancer chose not to treat the confirmed cancer in the prostate and enter into a program with preconceived tracking protocols including repeat biopsies of the prostate, imaging such as MRI, and genomic tests done on the biopsy tissue, and such programs are known as Active Surveillance (AS), with evolving monitoring methods. and
WHEREAS, many medical practitioners support men diagnosed with very-low risk and low risk PCa to a regimen of tracking the cancer with known imaging technology and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and Genomic testing, and statistical (nomograms) modeling, and
WHEREAS, men on AS have an important contribution to offer, about how the protocols for AS are developed or modified, and how the funding for PCa research on AS is allocated toward improving AS, and
WHEREAS some AS procedures, testing, and monitoring of the PCa is needlessly invasive, increases risk to a man’s body, and in some cases can cause irreparable bodily and emotional harm to AS patients, their loved ones and families.
NOW, THEREFORE, we members of ASPI, do propose, respectfully demand, and solicit support for the following changes in AS protocols, funding, research, and treatment development:
- That men offered AS have a right to participate in their ongoing care, such that all caregivers and clinicians clearly communicate with them all material facts about their case in plain language interpretable by a layperson, and
- That men respectfully demand more participation in the future of AS, such as access to research findings on treatments whether adopted or not, and
- That all men on AS, including those who are patients at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), have a voice and a right to participate in the funding of research and changes to AS including development refinement and approval of AS procedures, and
- That men who choose to can take charge of their own health with known or potential cancer fighting food, exercise, reasonable use of cancer fighting supplements, positive attitude, and a personal protocol except where self-care inflicts harm to the body or negates necessary PCa treatment. PCF and urology care foundations are supposed to have some avenues for patients to have a “say”, and
- That AS men respectfully demand that commercial insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid the VA, and all public and private medical care resources recognize that payments, funding and future funding take into consideration that AS men are entitled to an immediate voice and influence in how all such medical resources are used for AS for PCa, and
- Machine learning & Artificial Intelligence (AI) Artificial Intelligence should be used to compile all the data on clinical trials, determine what has worked and what has not, therefore improving protocols, procedures, and treatments for all patients, using technology to help patients have a quality of life living with PCa. and
- That full-service or whole health care of a PCa patient, also known as “holistic”, “shared”, “coordinated” and “interdisciplinary” care among all practitioners or caretakers be encouraged, including mental healthcare that includes stress, anxiety, and addiction treatments, such that all likely comorbidities are addressed so that the patient gets a best quality of care and outcome, and
- That governments should form partnerships with PCa patients, corporations, and the medical industry to develop the best tests, treatments, or deferred treatments for individual PCa patients. PCa medical care should not be domineered by any sole part of the medical or research industry, and
- After a patient is assessed, they have an option of (AS) with limited intrusive tests or limited treatments under the care of a urologist, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, naturopath, research university or a hospital-based group, and
- Patients who require more aggressive testing and are determined to be in a high-risk, must be attended to with more intrusive testing and given the best treatments with the purpose of letting the patient have a quality of life. ASPI maintains being elderly should not prejudice patient options if they are perceived as mentally and physically younger than age-based stereotypes.
- ASPI appreciates all that has been done for AS patients to date.
“We are patients communicating with patients”
Comments are welcome by e-Mail, Mark Lichty mlichty@aspatients.org
Signed on May-22-2020
Signed by Geoff McLennan PCa patient