The Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urological Research Endeavor (CaPSURE) is an ongoing longitudinal observational study of current trends in prostate cancer staging and treatment across a spectrum of different treatment facilities in the United States. To date, the study has documented 2 principal findings: (a) a large variation exists in the treatment choices applied to similar patient presentations across the range of facility type, size, and geographic location in the United States; and (b) although it does not seem to make much difference in mortality outcomes which approach--hormonal therapy, radiotherapy, or surgery--is applied to men at low or intermediate risk, a survival benefit exists with surgery for men at high risk.

Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc.