While the just released Prostate Cancer Outcomes Registry
Australia and New Zealand (PCOR-ANZ) Annual
Report confirms that early accurate diagnosis saves
lives and improves quality of care, it also confirms that
men diagnosed with prostate cancer in Aotearoa New Zealand
remain significantly worse off, with poorer earlier accurate
diagnosis, than their trans-Tasman cousins.
Reasons
for this include poor access to MRI pre-biopsy in NZ, to
targeted biopsy to confirm diagnosis when the presence of
prostate cancer is suspected, and to timely PSA
testing.
The Chair of PCOR-ANZ, Prof Frank Frizelle,
says that the report represents a large body of work from
patients and professionals across the Tasman and
demonstrates the significant effort that men with prostate
cancer and their clinicians have put in, working together to
provide data on the impact of treatment on their quality of
life. “This data allows clinicians to refine treatment to
try and improve the impact of treatment has on the
patient’s quality of life,” he says.
The report
suggests a number of measures to improve outcomes in
Aotearoa NZ:
- Better and more consistent guidance
to GPs on both use of screening tools such as PSA testing
and referral to specialist care and investigation. Timelier
referral of appropriate patients will lead to earlier
diagnosis and improved outcomes. - Improved national
access to accurate prostate MRI scans will reduce the need
for invasive biopsies as well as improve the accuracy of
diagnosis through targeted biopsies. - Better access
to contemporary targeted biopsy techniques would lead to
more accurate diagnosis and better patient
outcomes.
It also suggests that the proposed
measures are likely cost neutral. Some men will be
immediately reassured, and others diagnosed and treated more
effectively, saving lives and reducing harm from
over-treatment.
The report from the Movember-funded
trans-Tasman Registry includes information from 56,922 men
across Australia and New Zealand who had a diagnosis of
prostate cancer between 2015-2019, and patient-reported
outcome measures (PROMs) collected from 29,938 men 12 months
after diagnosis /treatment for those men diagnosed within
the period.
“I’m proud of the accuracy and
completeness of data, which allows clear commentary on the
Aotearoa NZ position, along with benchmarking with better
off Australian men,” says consultant Urologist Mr Stephen
Mark, Trustee of the Centre for Health Outcome Measures NZ
(CHOMNZ), the administrators of the NZ section of the
registry. “I look forward to members of the medical
community, the public and patient groups making use of the
information.”
The CEO of advocacy and patient
information & service provider, the Prostate Cancer
Foundation of NZ, Mr Peter Dickens, welcomed this latest
report from PCOR-ANZ, “we will take advantage of the report
to further add to our deep understanding of the disease,
which is now New Zealand’s most commonly diagnosed cancer,
as well as use it to refine and improve our advocacy efforts
on behalf of patients and their families”.
“We are
proud to support the Centre for Health Outcomes Measures NZ
(CHOMNZ), the PCOR-ANZ administrators, to generate valuable
reports for clinicians and others from the PCOR-NZ data to
improve outcomes for everybody who has received a prostate
cancer diagnosis across Aotearoa New Zealand,” he
said.
Movember’s Paul Villanti, Executive Director
Programs, took the opportunity of the release of the report
to welcome the new chair of PCOR-ANZ and emphasise the value
of collaboration across the ditch. “Movember is delighted to
see the appointment of Prof Frank Frizelle as the incoming
chair of PCOR-ANZ. This appointment reinforces the growing
strength of trans-Tasman clinical collaboration, and also
provides an opportunity to accelerate initiatives that
improve health outcomes for New Zealand men. Frank’s deep
expertise in clinical quality improvement will be invaluable
as we strengthen our focus on the real-world utilisation of
data to reduce treatment
variation.”
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