EAU press conference: Prostate cancer screening saves lives

Executive Committee discusses highlights of 24th Annual EAU Congress

The official EAU press conference took place on Wednesday, 18 March from 10:30 to 12:30 hrs in the Press Conference Room. The EAU was pleased again to welcome many representatives from international media.

Prof. Lars Grenabo, President 24th Annual EAU Congress took the floor first for a few words of welcome and an introduction of the speakers.

Mr Hasse Aro, Swedish TV host and producer, held a speech about his personal experience with prostate cancer; his father suffered and died of prostate cancer. His message was clear: screening saves lives. Mr Aro is famous in Sweden, among other things because of his show Efterlyst which has, with the help of Swedish citizens, led to the arrest of many of Sweden's most wanted criminals.

The congress highlights were announced by Prof. Freddie Hamdy, Chairman EAU Scientific Committee. One of the highlights is the 'Clinical Trial Update: European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC) - An important update' by Fritz Schröder, Rotterdam (NL) on Saturday 21 March. Only a few hours later it was reported that screening for prostate cancer can reduce deaths by 20%, according to the results of the ERSPC study, published online by the New England Journal of Medicine. The message that prostate cancer can indeed save lives was widely communicated.

'EAU International Day – Urology beyond Boundaries' by Per-Anders Abrahamsson, EAU Secretary-General, discussed the participation of eight urological associations in the Stockholm congress; the Japanese Urological Association (JUA), Korean Urological Association (KUA), Arab Association of Urology (AAU), Chinese Urological Association (CUA), Urological Society of India (USI), Indonesian Urological Association (IAUI), Confederacion Americana de Urologica (CAU) and the Iranian Urological Association (IUA)

Prof. Walter Artibani, EAU Executive Member, lectured about Botulinum toxin for the lower urinary tract – past, present and future: "Although promising, the available clinical data to date does not justify the clinical use of botulinum toxin-A in patients with LUTS and no guidelines in the field include it as a possible treatment".

Prof. Chris Chapple, EAU Executive Committee member (Sheffield, GB) referred to the 9th print publication of the EAU guidelines and underlined that these compilation represents the "most comprehensive practice based guidelines in urology". "They constitute the basis for urological treatments", he said. The guidelines are widely disseminated through the national urological societies and through websites.

Promising diagnostic and prognostic markers were introduced by Prof. Manfred Wirth, EAU Executive Member. He mentioned that the "identification of molecular genetic markers for prostate cancer detection and prediction of outcome is a fast developing and highly innovative field of research today."