Focal therapy use among U.S. patients with nonmetastatic prostate cancer remained uncommon between 2010 and 2023, with about half of recipients deemed to have received the treatment inappropriately, according to a research letter published online in JAMA.
Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center examined patterns in focal therapy use among patients ages 50 and older using the National Cancer Database. The study population of 1,179,384 participants found that 1.3% of patients received focal therapy overall. Among these recipients, 51.0% had low-, high- or very high-risk disease, while 49.0% had intermediate-risk disease.
Temporal trends varied by risk category. Focal therapy rates remained largely stable among low-risk patients from 2010 to 2023, rising from 1.8% to 2.2%. Rates increased among those with favorable intermediate-risk disease, from 2.1% to 2.9%, but declined significantly in unfavorable intermediate-risk, high-risk and very high-risk groups.
Senior author Quoc-Dien Trinh, M.D., said the findings underscore the need to ensure new treatments are adopted in ways supported by evidence and matched to patients most likely to benefit.
