ACS CoC Special Study 2017

Improving the current approach to surveillance after active treatment for cancer has been identified as a priority area by a number of organizations, including the Institute of Medicine, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and DEcIDE Cancer Consortium. The current guidelines do not account for individual risk and are based on limited evidence. To help address this gap, a Special Study will be launched in the coming months to investigate follow-up and recurrence after prostate cancer treatment in hopes of tailoring follow-up based on individual risk. This study will involve analyzing data from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) to determine surveillance patterns for prostate cancer. It will be funded by a grant from the Patient Center Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The goal of this work is to better understand how patients are currently being followed with surveillance testing and whether or not this is influencing outcomes. In addition, these studies will look at the accuracy of recurrence data within the NCDB and begin to develop strategies and create opportunities to improve the collection of this important outcome measure. Many tumor registrars are directly engaged to help achieve these goals and we are looking forward to your participation.