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Our Mission:
The
mission of the Virginia Prostate Cancer Coalition is to make prostate
cancer an urgent priority for the medical, patient and legislative
communities. We
want to make prostate cancer history in Virginia!
Latest News!
- YouTube Story of Interest one man's journey,
click here!
- VPCC Complement Statement to March
23, 2009 Joint Press Release: ”Remember the PSA plays a very
important role in men’s health care. The PSA is not only important for early
detection but as a tool to monitor doubling time and therefore timely
treatment and informed decision making”.
- Significant Prostate Calendar Events for April 2009 have
been updated. (click here to see the calendar).
Please check back periodically for up-to-date information.
- Updated Support Group Listing
- VPCC has updated
its
support group listing. For the latest and greatest in support groups,
click here!
Joint Statement:
A JOINT STATEMENT FROM
AMERICA'S
PROSTATE CANCER ADVOCACY, EDUCATION, AND SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS
Since 1993, when the PLCO trial was started, we have
awaited the results of this trial with eager anticipation, as have others. The
initial report of the results of this study -- and those of a comparable
European trial -- published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine
have told us two things:
* The
studies offer conflicting evidence about the possibility of a prostate
cancer-specific survival benefit associated with the regular use of prostate
specific antigen (PSA) testing and digital rectal examination (DRE).
* These
studies provide no convincing evidence that mass screening of men over 50 or 55
years of age will lead to a prostate cancer-specific survival benefit within 10
years.
We have come together to make two clear statements about
these trials:
* Above
all we thank the patients, the investigators, and the national authorities that
funded these two trials for their efforts. The development and implementation of
these trials over the past 16 years has been an enormous commitment by all
concerned.
* We
enthusiastically support the continued follow-up of patients in the prostate
cancer arm of the PLCO study for at least a further 5 years, through 2014, as
originally envisaged.
In addition, in the long-term interests of the health of
every man in the USA,
and with health reform recognized as a national priority, we wish to state the
following:
* Every
man, regardless of his age, has the right to know whether he is at risk from
prostate cancer, a disease that still kills over 28,600 American men every year,
and many more around the world. We encourage all men to be proactive, and to
seek out information and support in regard to their health.
* We
shall continue to encourage every man to discuss his individual risk for
prostate cancer with his doctors, and to request the appropriate use of PSA and
DRE tests until better options are available. Further clinical action based on
results of these tests is also a matter for serious discussion between each
patient and his physicians.
* We call
upon the federal government to emphasize the need for more research into early
detection technologies and methods that will lead to better and more accurate
diagnosis of prostate cancer.
* We call
upon Congress to increase funding for the Prostate Cancer Research Program at
the Department of Defense.
* We call
upon the National Institutes of Health to increase funding for prostate cancer
research through the National Cancer Institute.
* We call
upon the medical research community to place greater emphasis on the development
of new clinical tests that can differentiate between those men at greatest need
for aggressive prostate cancer treatment and those with indolent forms of the
disease who can be well managed without invasive treatment.
This statement is
approved by the following US-based prostate cancer advocacy, education, and
support organizations:
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