Treatment Decisions and Unmet Needs

Peter Salgo, MD, and Ira M. Klein, MD, MBA, FACP, discuss the results of the recent Chemohormonal Therapy versus Androgen Ablation Randomized Trial for Extensive Disease in Prostate Cancer (CHAARTED) and implications for clinical practice. Also discussed are the factors that clinicians consider when making evidence-based treatment decisions and the need for additional treatment options and clinical trial data.

The CHAARTED trial demonstrated the benefits of docetaxel in addition to androgen-deprivation therapy in patients with metastatic prostate cancer, particularly in patients with high-volume disease. Dr Klein explains that during the treatment decision making process, clinicians take into account a patient’s age and life expectancy. This information is helpful to patients and providers when determining how aggressively to treat a tumor.

As we enter a new generation of androgen suppression and blockade, Dr Klein comments that a higher level of understanding of prostate cancer is needed at the genomic level.

Watch our related Peer Exchange, Oncology Stakeholder Summit 2014: Evidence-Based Decisions to Improve Quality and Regulate Costs