David-Dan Nguyen Research Fellow | Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital MPH (Health Policy) Student | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Medical Student | McGill University

01 Feb COVID-19: Does Surgical Delay for Intermediate and High Risk Prostate Cancer Affect Prognosis?

Posted at 11:16h in Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cancer Research, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Prostate, Prostate Cancer, Surgical Research, Urology by

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

David-Dan Nguyen Research Fellow | Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital MPH (Health Policy) Student | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Medical Student | McGill University

Mr. Nguyen

David-Dan Nguyen
Research Fellow | Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
MPH (Health Policy) Student | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Medical Student | McGill University

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced hospitals to delay the definitive treatment of cancers via surgery or radiation therapy. While previous evidence has shown that delaying the treatment of low-risk prostate cancer is not associated with worse outcomes, treatment delays for intermediate-risk and high-risk prostate cancer are more controversial. As such, we sought to determine if delays for these disease states negatively impacted oncological outcomes.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings?

Response: We found that definitive treatment for intermediate-risk and high-risk prostate cancer can be delayed up to 3 months without any oncological consequences. To date, there is no evidence of worse survival as a result of delayed treatment of any length for intermediate-risk and high-risk prostate cancer. There is some conflicting evidence that delays beyond 6-9 months are associated with higher odds of biochemical recurrence and worse pathological features.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Based on our systematic review of the literature, treatment delays up to 3 months for intermediate-risk and high-risk prostate cancer are safe. Longer delays are not associated with worse survival but may be associated with more biochemical recurrence and worse pathological features.

Our findings also have implications for alternative disease spread models, such as the Fischer and Hellman models. 

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work? 

Response: Future research explicitly examining cohort of patients whose care have been delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic are needed.

No disclosures

Citation:

  • Systematic Review of Time to Definitive Treatment for Intermediate-Risk and High-Risk Prostate Cancer: Are Delays Associated with Worse Outcomes?
  • David-Dan NguyenMPH, Lorine HaeuserMD, Marco PaciottiMD, Chanan ReitblatMBA, Jacqueline CelliniMLIS MPH, Stuart R. LipsitzScD, Adam S. KibelMD, Atish D. ChoudhuryMD, PhD, Eugene B. ConeMD and Quoc-Dien TrinhMD
  • January 2021
  • The Journal of Urology

DOI: 10.1097/JU.0000000000001601 

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Last Updated on February 1, 2021 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

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