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Fifteen-Year Outcomes after Monitoring, Surgery, or Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer

Author/s: 
Hamdy, Freddie, Donovan, Jenny, Lane, Athene, Metcalfe, Chris, Davis, Michael, Turner, Emma, Martin, Richard, Young, Grace, Walsh, Eleanor, Bryant, Bollina, Prasad, Doble, Andrew

Background

Between 1999 and 2009 in the United Kingdom, 82,429 men between 50 and 69 years of age received a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. Localized prostate cancer was diagnosed in 2664 men. Of these men, 1643 were enrolled in a trial to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments, with 545 randomly assigned to receive active monitoring, 553 to undergo prostatectomy, and 545 to undergo radiotherapy.
Methods

At a median follow-up of 15 years (range, 11 to 21), we compared the results in this population with respect to death from prostate cancer (the primary outcome) and death from any cause, metastases, disease progression, and initiation of long-term androgen-deprivation therapy (secondary outcomes).
Results

Follow-up was complete for 1610 patients (98%). A risk-stratification analysis showed that more than one third of the men had intermediate or high-risk disease at diagnosis. Death from prostate cancer occurred in 45 men (2.7%): 17 (3.1%) in the active-monitoring group, 12 (2.2%) in the prostatectomy group, and 16 (2.9%) in the radiotherapy group (P=0.53 for the overall comparison). Death from any cause occurred in 356 men (21.7%), with similar numbers in all three groups. Metastases developed in 51 men (9.4%) in the active-monitoring group, in 26 (4.7%) in the prostatectomy group, and in 27 (5.0%) in the radiotherapy group. Long-term androgen-deprivation therapy was initiated in 69 men (12.7%), 40 (7.2%), and 42 (7.7%), respectively; clinical progression occurred in 141 men (25.9%), 58 (10.5%), and 60 (11.0%), respectively. In the active-monitoring group, 133 men (24.4%) were alive without any prostate cancer treatment at the end of follow-up. No differential effects on cancer-specific mortality were noted in relation to the baseline PSA level, tumor stage or grade, or risk-stratification score. No treatment complications were reported after the 10-year analysis.
Conclusions

After 15 years of follow-up, prostate cancer–specific mortality was low regardless of the treatment assigned. Thus, the choice of therapy involves weighing trade-offs between benefits and harms associated with treatments for localized prostate cancer. (Funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research; ProtecT Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN20141297. opens in new tab; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02044172. opens in new tab.)

Keywords 
prostate prostatic Follow-Up Studies male Young Adults

Pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV: effective and underused

Author/s: 
Hempel, A., Biondi, M. J., Baril, J., Tan, D. H. S.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective modality for HIV prevention that can be prescribed by generalists.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis should be offered to patients who are at high risk of HIV exposure, including gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBM), women reporting condomless intercourse with partners of confirmed or unknown transmissible HIV status and persons who inject drugs and share injection equipment.

Once daily PrEP (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine [TDF/FTC] or tenofovir alafenamide fumarate/emtricitabine tablets) is approved by Health Canada.

On-demand TDF/FTC can be prescribed to gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and has similar efficacy.

The Canadian guideline details protocolized monitoring for PrEP follow-up including HIV screening, screening for sexually transmitted infection and renal monitoring.

Keywords 
Follow-Up Studies Substance Abuse, intravenous Canada sexually transmitted diseases Drug users

Effect of Physical Therapy vs Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy in People With Degenerative Meniscal Tears: Five-Year Follow-up of the ESCAPE Randomized Clinical Trial

Author/s: 
Noorduyn, J. C. A., Van de Graaf, V. A., Willigenburg, N. W., Scholten-Peeters, G. G. M., Kret, Kret, E. J., Van Dijk, R. A., Buchbinder, R., Hawker, G. A., Coppieters, M. W., Poolman, R. W., ESCAPE Research Group

Importance: There is a paucity of high-quality evidence about the long-term effects (ie, 3-5 years and beyond) of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy vs exercise-based physical therapy for patients with degenerative meniscal tears.

Objectives: To compare the 5-year effectiveness of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy and exercise-based physical therapy on patient-reported knee function and progression of knee osteoarthritis in patients with a degenerative meniscal tear.

Design, setting, and participants: A noninferiority, multicenter randomized clinical trial was conducted in the orthopedic departments of 9 hospitals in the Netherlands. A total of 321 patients aged 45 to 70 years with a degenerative meniscal tear participated. Data collection took place between July 12, 2013, and December 4, 2020.

Interventions: Patients were randomly allocated to arthroscopic partial meniscectomy or 16 sessions of exercise-based physical therapy.

Main outcomes and measures: The primary outcome was patient-reported knee function (International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Form (range, 0 [worst] to 100 [best]) during 5 years of follow-up based on the intention-to-treat principle, with a noninferiority threshold of 11 points. The secondary outcome was progression in knee osteoarthritis shown on radiographic images in both treatment groups.

Results: Of 321 patients (mean [SD] age, 58 [6.6] years; 161 women [50.2%]), 278 patients (87.1%) completed the 5-year follow-up with a mean follow-up time of 61.8 months (range, 58.8-69.5 months). From baseline to 5-year follow-up, the mean (SD) improvement was 29.6 (18.7) points in the surgery group and 25.1 (17.8) points in the physical therapy group. The crude between-group difference was 3.5 points (95% CI, 0.7-6.3 points; P < .001 for noninferiority). The 95% CI did not exceed the noninferiority threshold of 11 points. Comparable rates of progression of radiographic-demonstrated knee osteoarthritis were noted between both treatments.

Conclusions and relevance: In this noninferiority randomized clinical trial after 5 years, exercise-based physical therapy remained noninferior to arthroscopic partial meniscectomy for patient-reported knee function. Physical therapy should therefore be the preferred treatment over surgery for degenerative meniscal tears. These results can assist in the development and updating of current guideline recommendations about treatment for patients with a degenerative meniscal tear.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01850719.

Keywords 
Knee Injuries Follow-Up Studies randomized controlled trial Meniscus Injuries Meniscectomy
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