Knowledge is Power

WebBased Program Lays Out Treatment Options

A Webbased program that informs prostate cancer patients about treatment options may ease the decision of which to choose, MCG researchers say.

Treatments for localized prostate cancer and associated side effects are so varied that patients are often confused about which option is best for them, said Dr. Gerald Bennett, chair of the Department of Health Environments and Systems in the MCG School of Nursing.

“This disease can be treated by observation alone, surgery, cryosurgery, hormonal therapy and radiation therapies,” Dr. Bennett said. “But there have only been a few studies that adequately compare the complications of different treatments, which can include sexual, bladder and bowel dysfunction. Men can hear their doctors’ recommendations, but ultimately, they decide which treatment to pursue. Those decisions can dramatically affect their lives, but the bottom line is that we often don’t know enough scientifically to recommend one treatment over the other.”

MCG is part of a National Institutes of Healthfunded study to determine the impact of the Personal Patient Profile Prostate (P4) program, an innovative computer program that measures personal factors and creates an Internet decisionsupport system.

Led by the University of Washington in Seattle, the other sites are Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Nearly 500 patients will be included in the study nationwide.

In Augusta, Dr. Bennett and his research team will recruit 72 prostate cancer patients from the Augusta Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Half will follow a traditional treatment plan—diagnosis followed by a consultation with a cancer specialist and treatment—and half will use the P4 program.

“These men will go to the Web site and answer questions like who they feel should be responsible for making treatment decisions— their doctor, themselves or a combination of the two—and the program will provide video examples of how to approach those discussions with their care providers,” Dr. Bennett said. “We believe men who have access to the P4 program will have less inner conflict while making treatment decisions and, in the long run, will be more satisfied with whatever treatment path they choose.”

“I often see patients struggle with treatment decisions,” added Dr. Martha Terris, urologist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta and MCG. “While a program like this one doesn’t make the treatment decision for them, it does help them make betterinformed decisions and further open the lines of communication with their doctors.”

Jennifer Hilliard