Journal of North Khorasan

Background & Objectives: Choosing the appropriate treatment options for the cancer patients is a very complicated matter which requires comprehensive knowledge. The physicians are the only persons who have enough information. Therefore, in present study we assessed the treatment options of physicians who were suffered from prostate and bladder cancers.

Material & Methods: A total of 183 urologists were enrolled in present study. The cases filled a questionnaire included demographic data and also treatment options they will probably choose in case of cancer in themselves or their own close relatives.  

Results: In early phases of prostate cancer, 43% of urologists preferred for active surveillance, whereas 37% of cases chose the radical prostatectomy. However, in advanced stages, 73% chose radical prostatectomy. In aggressive bladder cancer, 43% preferred radical cystectomy, while 31% of cases considered capsule sparing cystectomy as a reasonable option. Most of the faculty members preferred radical prostatectomy and capsule sparing cystectomy in early stages of prostate cancer and early stages of bladder cancer, respectively. On the other hand, urologists in private medical centers were mostly inclined toward checking PSA and active surveillance. Classical radical cystectomy in aggressive bladder cancer was mostly practiced in non-educational governmental hospitals, whereas, capsule sparing cystectomy was mostly prevalent in private medical centers. More years of clinical experience was correlated with choosing radiotherapy, whilst choosing "No Surveillance" was correlated with the less amount of clinical experience. In advanced prostate cancer, the most chosen modalities were radical prostatectomy, radiotherapy, and no surveillance, respectively, in all levels of clinical experiences.

Conclusion: In the present study, we observed that there was a correlation between treatment  option and level of clinical experience and the institute that the surgeon works in which, radical prostatectomy and capsule sparing prostatectomy were more prevalent among the faculty members. Moreover, in the case of advanced stages of prostate cancer, there was a correlation between higher levels of clinical experience and  selection of radiotherapy as the treatment option.