Author | John A. Petros, MD

September 01, 2004

There are two problems with thepaper by Quaranta et al, neitherof which can be overcomewith discussion or sophistry. The firstconcerns the criteria used to determinewhether a report would be includedin this analysis. Specifically,any series with a median follow-up ofonly 3 years was included if it alsomet the other inclusion criteria. Thisis simply inadequate, as there is greatconsensus that studies with 3-year follow-up miss many recurrences. Thesecond problem with the paper is thedefinition of recurrence. The AmericanSociety for Therapeutic Radiologyand Oncology (ASTRO) criteriaused by the authors has proven inferiorto using a cutoff of 0.2 ng/mL forprostate-specific antigen (PSA) nadirfollowing brachytherapy. The inaccuracyin using ASTRO criteria fordetermining cure by brachytherapy isparticularly pronounced in series withshort follow-up such as the 3-yearmedian follow-up criterion used inthis paper.

September 01, 2001

Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer are more than 65 years of age. Therefore, a discussion of the issues surrounding the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of prostate cancer in older men is, in many ways, a review of