David Penson, MD, MPH, Professor of Urologic Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, has received a $2 million research award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to study localized prostate cancer. Dr. Penson is also Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Surgical Quality and Outcomes Research.
Patient-reported Outcomes in Prostate Cancer
Over the next 3 years, Dr. Penson will study patient-reported outcomes and compare the effectiveness of treatment of prostate cancer in 3,691 men diagnosed with prostate cancer in five states in 2011. Working with Tatsuki Koyama, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, and Daniel Barocas, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Urologic Surgery, Dr. Penson hopes to better educate men on the types of treatment available, known complications, and overall quality of life following treatment of prostate cancer.
“This is very important work focused on understanding the expectations of patients and improving outcomes in men who have prostate cancer,” said R. Daniel Beauchamp, MD, Chair of the Section of Surgical Sciences, at Vanderbilt.
Network of Tumor Registries
The $2 million study builds on Dr. Penson’s recent success in developing a network of tumor registries that collect patient data that may hold the key to more scientifically proven treatment plans that make the most sense for each patient.
Vanderbilt started this network in 2010 through a $7.6 million Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality grant. Dr. Penson’s Comparative Effectiveness Analysis of Surgery and Radiation (CEASAR) study continues to collect critically important data such as treatment complications and short-term cancer rates by following nearly 4,000 men diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Though men diagnosed with prostate cancer have a variety of treatment options, including surgery, radiation, and active surveillance, each of these comes with its own risks, side effects, and impacts on overall quality of life. What isn’t clear is how to take this information and personalize it for individual patients in a way that helps them make clinical decisions consistent with their own personal preferences and values.
“No one wants to tackle cancer by guessing,” said Dr. Penson. “For the first time, we really have an opportunity to give patients the tools and information they need to lead a healthier, fuller life.”
Collaboration with Patient Advocates
To ensure key findings from the study are made widely available to men with prostate cancer, Dr. Penson has partnered with patient advocacy leaders at Vanderbilt and nationally.
Dan McCollum, Health Information Specialist at the Eskind Biomedical Library and a prostate cancer survivor, will lead patient stakeholder communications.
He will work with the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s Office of Patient and Community Education to identify interested prostate cancer survivors to serve on a patient advisory council.
The Tennessee chapter of the Men’s Health Network, a patient advocacy group focused on men’s health issues, including prostate cancer, will assist in engaging patients from outside of Vanderbilt.
And the Health Ratings Center of Consumer Reports will assist with study design and future dissemination of information to the public.
“I’m really excited about this award because it will generate rich information that patients can use to make personalized decisions on both how and where to treat their prostate cancer, based on hard science and actual patient outcomes,” Dr. Penson said. ■
