The Quality of Life Survey closed just twelve months ago this week. Not only did we have a tremendous response, with almost 3,000 questionnaires completed. Since then the results have been quantified and then analysed in considerable depth. Our Chairman, André Deschamps has presented the main results at various conferences – starting last January in person at the ESOU and at other conferences, EAU in July, ESMO in September and EMUC coming up later this month. Following a consultation exercise in October, a more patient-oriented version of the EUPROMS is now available on our website.

Readers can also download the PowerPoint slide presentation here.

Next week’s Update will be a special edition with the study presentations.

Across much of Europe there appears to be a strong link between a person’s economic well-being and his or her health status. Putting it bluntly, the better off you are financially the more likely you are to live longer and in better health for the most part. In the case of prostate cancer detection and subsequent treatment, the higher up the economic tree the more likely a man is to get diagnosed earlier and avoid presenting to doctors in a metastatic stage. This is a many-sided problem and there a many studies which show that a person’s socio-economic status is linked to the quality of their early years nutrition, to their educational progression and to the kinds of lifestyle choices they are likely to make which lead on to a greater chance of poorer health outcomes.

Patient organisations, like those represented by Europa Uomo, need to keep these points in mind when developing programmes for early detection and treatment. This means we need to be mindful of the words and the type of language we use to pass on our message. We also need to ensure that our websites, newsletters and information materials are written in terms that are readily understood by all those likely to be affected.

The recent article in Renal and Urology News reveals that when men on lower incomes present with prostate cancer they are at higher risk of having advanced or aggressive disease. They are also less likely to undergo surgery or radiation for localised PCa because of this. In countries where low income men have difficulties in accessing quality health care this may be because they may live far from the health facility and don’t have a car or they may be unable to afford to take time off from work to attend clinics and follow-up consultations. The issues regarding incomes and prostate health are well explored in the linked article.

PIONEER is a large scale study and one of the important items to be included is the patient viewpoint. If you have advanced prostate cancer the study really needs your help. It is looking to get first-hand accounts of a number of men in Europe who currently have advanced prostate cancer, who also can speak English and are living in Europe. It entails you being willing to talk to a researcher over the internet for about 30 minutes. The study is co-ordinated from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, but cannot accept anybody who lives in the United Kingdom. This is a great opportunity to give a first-hand account of the patient’s experience of advance prostate cancer.
If you are in the qualifying category and willing to participate please contact Sheela Tripathee at sheela.tripathee@abdn.ac.uk. Thank you!

Ezra is a New York-based startup transforming early cancer screening using MRI has received FDA 510(k) premarket authorization for its Artificial Intelligence, designed to decrease the cost of MRI-based cancer screening, assisting radiologists in their analysis of prostate MRI scans. It is the first Prostate AI to ever be cleared by the FDA.

In its press release the company claims its Ezra Prostate AI achieves three important goals:
• Accurate prostate volume measurements. Accurate prostate volume is critical to diagnosis because the size of the prostate is often an indication of potential disease.
• Semi-automatic lesion measurements. Under current processes, if a lesion is identified in the prostate, a radiologist has to manually measure the size of the lesion, and grade it using the PI-RADS methodology. The Ezra Prostate AI automatically measures the size of a lesion saving time and minimizing patient worry.
• Automatic prostate and lesion segmentation and 3D volume representation. Should a lesion require a biopsy, the Ezra Prostate AI automatically segments the prostate gland and the lesion for the radiologist for greater accuracy and precision.

Read more here.

The European Prostate Cancer Awareness Day (EPAD20) is approaching fast! On Tuesday 17 November, in the middle of Movember, from 17:30 to 19:00 hours CET, health care professionals, patient advocates, representatives from charities and foundations, and key policymakers are speaking about the necessity of early detection and awareness raising of prostate cancer. MEPs Tiemo Wölken (DE) and Tomislav Sokol (HR) will host the meeting, and Dr. Paolo Guglielmetti, a member of the European Commission’s Cancer taskforce, will give an update on Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan (EU Cancer Plan). See programme.

We kindly invite you to join and contribute to EPAD20. Register now for free and join us to improve the prospects of prostate cancer patients.

For more information, please visit epad.uroweb.org.

The European Medicines Agency, based in Amsterdam, provides a training course each year to members of Patients’ and Consumers’ Working Party and this year the meeting was a virtual one attended by Cosimo Pieri representing Europa Uomo.

You can read his report here.

The European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) is conducting this survey to see the effect COVID-19 has had on cancer patients and their treatment across Europe.

They are looking for a broad range of cancer patients undergoing treatment during COVID-19, so the more people we reach the better. To meet this goal, they have translated the survey into all EU languages.

By clicking here, you will go directly to the survey where you can select your preferred language at the top right corner of your screen.

What will this information be used for?
With this information the ECPC can confront policy-makers and call for quality and equal access to treatment for all cancer patients, identify new advocacy, policy and research topics and gain a better understanding of how disrupted healthcare can lead to deteriorated treatment outcomes and increased death incidence.