Updated clinical tool helps predict course of prostate cancer.
Since 1993, physicians have depended upon the Partin Tables to predict if their patients’ prostate cancer is localized (confined to the prostate) or if it has spread. The tables, a statistical model used to estimate the probability of a surgical cure, were recently updated.
If the cancer is confined to the prostate, the chance for a surgical cure is likely. However, the updated tables show that some men, who were previously thought to not have a good prognosis — they had intermediate disease — can be cured with surgery.
The Johns Hopkins’ website has a page with a calculator where prostate cancer patients can enter their clinical stage (which is based upon their digital rectal exam), their PSA number and Gleason score to assess their probability organ-confined cancer.
Dr. Alan Partin, professor and director of urology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, created the tables.
