European urology
-
Social media use is becoming common in medical practice. Although primarily used in this context to connect physicians, social media allows users share information, to create an online profile, to learn and keep knowledge up to date, to facilitate virtual attendance at medical conferences, and to measure impact within a field. ⋯ The European Association of Urology brought together a committee of stakeholders to create guidance on the good practice and standards of use of social media. These encompass guidance about defining an online profile; managing accounts; protecting the reputations of yourself and your organization; protecting patient confidentiality; and creating honest, responsible content that reflects your standing as a physician and your membership within this profession.
-
Editorial Comment
Social media and medical professionalism: the need for guidance.
-
Patient-reported outcomes (PRO) data from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are increasingly used to inform patient-centred care as well as clinical and health policy decisions. ⋯ In this report, we have investigated the methodological quality of PCa trials that have included a PRO assessment. We conclude that including PRO is critical to better evaluating the treatment effectiveness of new therapeutic approaches from the patient's perspective. Also, at least one-fifth of PRO RCTs in PCa have provided sufficient details to allow health policy makers and physicians to make a critical appraisal of results.
-
Multicenter Study
Targeted prostate cancer screening in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers: results from the initial screening round of the IMPACT study.
Men with germline breast cancer 1, early onset (BRCA1) or breast cancer 2, early onset (BRCA2) gene mutations have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer (PCa) than noncarriers. IMPACT (Identification of Men with a genetic predisposition to ProstAte Cancer: Targeted screening in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and controls) is an international consortium of 62 centres in 20 countries evaluating the use of targeted PCa screening in men with BRCA1/2 mutations. ⋯ In this report, we demonstrate that germline genetic markers can be used to identify men at higher risk of prostate cancer. Targeting screening at these men resulted in the identification of tumours that were more likely to require treatment.