Diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer are on cusp of major change, conference hears

“We are at a sea change” in managing prostate cancer, moving towards focal therapy for small lesions and avoiding the problems of overdiagnosis and overtreatment of prostate cancer. “The solution is going to be imaging,” said Mark Emberton, reader in interventional oncological surgery at University College Hospital, London.

He spoke to the BMJ at a meeting in New York sponsored by the UK’s Pelican Cancer Foundation that brought together experts from many disciplines. Participants emphasised the importance of imaging techniques in identifying aggressive cancers and determining when focal therapy was suitable to ablate less aggressive lesions, in a way similar to lumpectomy for breast cancer.

The Pelican Cancer Foundation works to improve the detection, management, and non-invasive treatment of prostate cancer. It believes that imaging is the key to the proper planning of care of patients with …