Prostate cancer: new guidelines

Over the past few years, there have been important developments and improvements in how men with advanced prostate cancer have been treated.

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE)¹ has produced new guidelines concerning diagnosis and treatment options for prostate cancer. These guidelines supercede previous guidance published in 2008.² Understanding these changes will ensure that the advice offered to men will help them select the best options, and that the care and treatment provided are up to date and underpinned by the best available evidence. Box 1 outlines the new NICE proposals.

Since the first guidelines were published six years ago, there have been a variety of new treatments licensed for the management of those prostate cancers that have not responded to hormone treatment, causing the cancer to spread (hormone-relapsed metastatic prostate cancer). The new guidelines provide more information on the best way to diagnose and recognise the different stages of this condition in a hospital setting. They also include information about how to best manage the side effects that are associated with radical treatment.