Prostate Cancer Mortality After Relabeling Low-Grade Prostate Cancer as Precancerous

What are the effects of relabeling low-grade prostate cancer as a precancerous condition on prostate cancer mortality?In this decision analytical model study, the number of prostate cancer deaths in the US avoided by relabeling compared with increased mortality was modeled. In the base case, relabeling would lead to 6-fold more annual prostate deaths avoided than caused (2835 vs 452), and relabeling reduced deaths in all reasonable modeling scenarios.In this modeling study, dropping the cancer label and defining low-grade prostate cancer as a precancerous lesion led to a net reduction in prostate cancer mortality.

Corresponding Author: Andrew J. Vickers, PhD, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 633 Third Ave, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10017 (vickersa@mskcc.org).

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