Mark Emberton, MD, FRCS, professor, Interventional Oncology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, clinical director, Clinical Effectiveness Unit, Royal College of Surgeons of England, discusses the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of patients with localized prostate cancer.

Emberton says that bringing in a mixed set of skills to a task results in benefit. Radiologists and pathologists, in addition to the urologist, are needed in order to get the risk stratification right, he explains. Approaching a patient’s treatment with a multidisciplinary team allows for greater success and innovation. Moving forward, these relationships are only going to expand.

Detection rates are now reaching 80%, whereas historically, they have been anywhere from 25% to 30%. This statistic, Emberton says, shows how inefficient the system was before. Recently, engineers and computational biologists have been added into the mix, as molecular medicine with biomarkers is becoming increasingly important. Synthesizing this mass of information, such as complex imaging data sets with biomarker data sets, is going to be the challenge for the next 10 years, Emberton adds.

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Mark Emberton, MD, FRCS, professor, Interventional Oncology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, clinical director, Clinical Effectiveness Unit, Royal College of Surgeons of England, discusses the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of patients with localized prostate cancer.
 

Dr. Emberton on the Importance of Multidisciplinary Care in Prostate Cancer

Mark Emberton, MD, FRCS, professor, Interventional Oncology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, clinical director, Clinical Effectiveness Unit, Royal College of Surgeons of England, addresses issues in the diagnosis of localized prostate cancer.

Over the last 40 years, the diagnosis of prostate cancer as a whole has not been reliable, says Emberton. In recent years though, the role of imaging has been established, which provides a location for the clinician to then target. This new understanding of the importance of imaging has exposed the historical deficiencies in localized prostate cancer diagnosis, Emberton explains.

The worst deficiency, according to Emberton, was missed cancers. As needle biopsies do not provide an idea of the entire area like a scan can, some men were given a clear bill of health when they actually had cancer. Additional issues were misdiagnosed cancers and overdiagnosis. Focusing on finding the location of tumors has helped resolve those errors, Emberton states.

Mark Emberton, MD, FRCS, professor, Interventional Oncology, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, clinical director, Clinical Effectiveness Unit, Royal College of Surgeons of England, addresses issues in the diagnosis of localized prostate cancer.
 

Mark Emberton, MD, FRCS

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Dr. Emberton on the Importance of Multidisciplinary Care in Prostate Cancer

Dr. Emberton Addresses Issues in Diagnosing Localized Prostate Cancer