I hope that people in Europe can help to publicize this day and make it something that becomes a part of the yearly calendar the way we are now celebrating September as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in the United States.

This year, the European Association of Urology (EAU) has defined a few key issues:

– Prostate cancer can only be cured when it is detected in its early stages, i.e. when the disease is organ-confined. The PSA test (a simple blood test) and PSA kinetics – PSA velocity or PSA doubling time – are helpful tools to recognize patients at risk for having prostate cancer.

– Cancers diagnosed at an early state of development do not always need treatment. Active monitoring is a reasonable option that still allows to initiate treatment during follow-up when needed.

– Hormonal therapy severely impacts quality of life but when needed, the side effects can be reduced by instructions about nutrition, physical activity and psychological support.

– Most men will develop benign prostate disease and many of them will develop complaints for which medical and surgical treatments are available and both are generally highly effective.

The EAU is distributing promotional materials such as posters and brochures in support of initiatives from other medical institutions. To access the promotional materials, please visit European Prostate Awareness Day: European Association of Urology.

EAU will launch online Prostate-Risk Indicator.

For more information click here.

For the EAU website click here.