Europa Uomo’s fourth AS event summarised key findings from experts and patients

People attending Europa Uomo’s latest webinar on active surveillance heard key messages about evidence, benefits, patient experience and psychological impacts.

The roundtable event included video clips from prostate cancer specialists including Hein Van Poppel, Monique Roobol, Chris Bangma, Riccardo Valdagni and Lara Bellardita, with personal testimonies of active surveillance (AS) provided by Ioannis Vanezos, Cosimo Pieri and Thrainn Thorvaldsson. All were speakers at Europa Uomo’s three previous AS webinars.

Europa Uomo Board members Cosimo Pieri and Tania Estapé summarised and concluded on the main learning points. Estapé, who is a psycho- oncologist in Spain, said personal testimony from patients was particularly interesting from a psychological point of view.

“People tend to feel that if you have cancer you should have it removed from your body,” she said. “So this is a very difficult decision, to live with the cancer. It’s not fear of recurrence, but fear of progression. AS is a very important focus for psychologists because there may be consequences such as anxiety.”

“So if a man needs to see a psycho oncologist it’s not because he’s crazy but because he needs some help with this situation of uncertainty.”

The full webinar can be viewed below and previous AS webinars can be viewed at our page on active surveillance.