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Prostate Cancer
A JLA Priority Setting Partnership

The James Lind Alliance (JLA) was asked to develop and manage a Priority Setting Partnership for interested patient and clinician organisations within Prostate Cancer.

Initially the approach came from the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation (now Prostate Action) and the Prostate Cancer Support Federation, supported by the Prostate Cancer Charter for Action but the initiative is open to any patient or clinician organisations with an interest in helping to harvest and then prioritise treatment uncertainties in prostate cancer.

An initial "Stakeholder Meeting" was held 10th June 2009 which was attended by 26 participants of which 20 represented organisations (97 organisation representatives were invited), who heard presentations (see below) about our plans for the partnership (For a copy of the invitation letter to the stakeholder meeting please click here).

Presentations as follows:
The Prostate Perspective

Priority setting treatment uncertainties in Prostate Cancer together

Collecting and publishing treatment uncertainties

A protocol was created which sets out the aims, objectives and commitments of the Prostate Cancer Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) and the basic roles and responsibilities of the partners therein. To see a copy of the protocol click here

The final priority setting workshop was held in October 2010, where patients and clinicians gathered together to discuss and rank a long list of prostate cancer treatment uncertainties, completing the exercise with an shared list of the top priorities for research. These were:

• How can over-treatment for prostate cancer be prevented by indentifying and excluding the treatment of harmless tumours?
• Is there a genetic marker for prostate cancer that would be both more sensitive and more specific than PSA serum level?
• What can be done to delay or prevent the onset of hormone independent prostate cancer?
• Are there any dietary measures that can prevent prostate cancer or slow its progression?
• Does serial PSA measurement in patients with prostate cancer accurately monitor disease progression?
• Would prostate cancer screening targeted at high risk groups, i.e. those with positive family history, and ethnic minorities with higher rates, improve the outcomes of treatment in these groups?
• Does active surveillance work for treatment of prostate cancer?
• Is there a vaccine that can prevent prostate cancer?
• Do variations in GP awareness of prostate cancer affect outcomes?
• Are there any non-intrusive diagnostic tests that will identify aggressive prostate cancers whilst not identifying harmless cancers?
• What is the effectiveness of new treatments for prostate cancer such as High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) and Cryotherapy?

For further details, click here.

Further reading

Glossary of terms (PDF)

Halls E. Where are the clinicians when you need them? BMJ 2010;340:c1845. BMJ article (PDF)

Lophatananon A ,Tyndale-Biscoe S , Malcolm E , Rippon H, Holmes K, Firkins L, Fenton M , Crowe S , Stewart-Brown S, Gnanapragasam V and Muir K. The James Lind Alliance approach to priority setting for prostate cancer research: an integrative methodology based on patient and clinician participation”
British Journal of Urology International, 2011, Vol 108, Issue 7, p 1040 – 1043. BJU Article (PDF)

Sandy Tyndale-Biscoe, Emma Malcolm, Vincent J. Gnanapragasam.
Setting priorities for prostate cancer research. Trends in Urology & Men's Health 2012, vol 3 issue 1, p31-33. Trends Article (PDF)