Editorial for special issue on epidemiology and prevention of prostate cancer

Excerpt

We are very proud of the quality and range of the contributions from the authors of this edition of World Journal of Urology with a specific focus on the epidemiology and prevention of prostate cancer. This disease is a conundrum for governments and healthcare agencies across the globe: while they all aspire to increase life expectancy from any number of public health measures, as longevity increases, so does the risk of prostate cancer diagnosis and mortality. The organized response to this expanding risk of disease has frequently been an increased focus on early detection, generally with the monolithic use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and digital rectal examination (DRE), using >4 ng/mL and ‘abnormal’ as indications for biopsy and intervention with a goal to reduce mortality. While in some regions and countries, within years of the inception of this approach, a fall in prostate cancer mortality has been seen, a concurrent enormous increase in treatment has also been the result with substantial reallocation of resources as well as the growth of huge populations of prostate cancer survivors, almost all of whom have at least some change in their quality of life to show for their experience. …