Sansum Clinic and Ridley-Tree Cancer Center will share a panel discussion that was presented on prostate health. To view the video presentation, click here.
The multidisciplinary panel included clinicians with a variety of expertise who outlined the most advanced methods for prostate cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Kurt N. Ransohoff, president, Sutter Health Greater Central Coast, was the moderator.
Panel members were Dr. Justin Voog, radiation oncologist; Dr. W. Warren Suh, radiation oncologist; Dr. Scott Tobis, urologic oncologist; M. Ayanna Boyce, genetic counselor; Dr. David Carlson, nuclear medicine physician; and Dr. Gregg Newman, medical oncologist/hematologist.
The public panel was sponsored by Sansum Clinic and Ridley-Tree Cancer Center (now part of Sutter Health), the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara, and the John C. Mithun Foundation.
According to reports, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in American men, excluding skin cancer, but is also one of the most treatable. About one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime.
A PSA test is recommended for men age 50 and over to measure the level of prostate-specific antigen, a protein produced by the prostate, in the blood, the clinic said.
“Higher-than-normal levels may be a sign of prostate cancer,” according to medical doctors. “Since most prostate cancers do not cause symptoms until very late in the course of the disease, early detection is critical.
“Treatment of prostate cancer depends on the stage of the cancer and how aggressive it is, the PSA level and the age and health of the patient. Sometimes active surveillance is used for low-risk, slow-growing prostate cancer.”
If a patient is diagnosed, physicians, oncologists and surgeons use a range of state-of-the-art treatments including radiation therapy and minimally invasive procedures incorporating the da Vinci 5® robotic surgery system.
Treatment options for more aggressive but still localized prostate cancer include surgery, radiation therapy and focal therapies like High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU), Sansum said.
Localized forms of prostate cancer have a nearly 100% five-year survival rate with appropriate treatment, according to Sansum.
Read here how a Foothill Surgery Center patient was one of the first in the country to have a prostatectomy performed using the da Vinci 5® robotic surgical system at an outpatient center.