THE NATIONAL-CANCER-DATA-BASE REPORT ON PROSTATE-CANCER

Background. Previous Commission on Cancer data from the National Cance r Data Base (NCDB) examined time trends in disease stage, treatment pa tterns, and survival for patients with selected cancers. The most curr ent (1992) data for prostate cancer are described in this Communicatio n. Methods. Calls for data yielded a total of 52,597 prostate cancer r eports for 1986/1987 and 101,903 for 1999 from hospital cancer registr ies across the United States. Results. Data were received for 154,500 patients with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is detected increasingl y at localized stages and among younger men. African American men have a continuing pattern of more advanced disease at diagnosis. Selection of prostatectomy as the primary treatment has increased, and ifs use varies by region and several patient and hospital characteristics. Sel ection of radiation treatment has increased to a lesser degree. The 5- year survival for patients diagnosed in 1986/1987 was 60%. Outcomes va ried by stage, age, and race. Conclusion. The NCDB provides valuable i nformation concerning patterns and trends in prostate cancer care in t he United States. The data show that prostate cancer detection and tre atment have changed markedly in recent years. These changes appear to be related to the increased use of early detection measures. The impro vements in prostate cancer detection and trends in treatment have not affected the population evenly, with African American men having more advanced disease and lower survival. Continued monitoring of these imp ortant trends is needed.