Cognizance and adherence to outpatient treatment in patients with prostate cancer after local treatment: multicenter study

Background. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in Russia. Despite the successes of local treatment, the risk of biochemical recurrence (BR) persists and requires long-term monitoring of prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Patient compliance is a crucial factor of timely recurrence diagnosis. Aim. To evaluate cognizance and adherence to outpatient treatment in patients with local and locally advanced prostate cancer after local treatment in Russia. Materials and methods. Two-stage study was performed: survey of 22 oncologists from 18 centers and telephone survey of 2046 patients from 10 oncological centers who received local treatment in 2022. Original questionnaires were used. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistica 10 software. Results. The majority of patients (99.2 %) are informed about the necessity of PSA level monitoring. However, 36.8 % did not know threshold PSA levels, 18.7 % did not undergo examination in a timely manner, and 4.3 % weren’t informed on the timeframes of monitoring. BR was diagnosed in 11.43 % of patients. Among them, in 16.2 % clinical recurrence was detected due to late BR diagnostics and belated visit to an oncologist. However, no statistically significant correlation between cognizance level, examination regularity with development of clinical recurrence was found (p 0.05). In 39.3 % of cases, treatment of prostate cancer due to diagnosed BR was delayed. Conclusion. Despite high general cognizance, significant deficit of practical knowledge and low adherence to regular monitoring were observed. To decrease the number of clinical recurrences developed due to delayed start of treatment after BR, comprehensive approach is necessary consisting of patient briefing and optimization of control methods at the medical facilities performing outpatient observation.