A comparative assessment of active surveillance for localized prostate cancer in the community versus tertiary care referral center

Objectives To date, evidence on active surveillance (AS) is restricted to protocol-based studies. Conversely, practice patterns outside of such protocols are unknown. The aim of this study was to capture the current AS treatment patterns for localized prostate cancer in patients managed by office-based urologists compared to patients treated at a tertiary care center. Methods and materials Two prospective cohorts were investigated: 361 AS arm patients of the German Hormonal treatment, Active surveillance, Radiation therapy, OP, Watchful waiting (HAROW) study, an observational health service study and 387 protocol-based AS patients treated at the Department of Urology of the Kantonsspital Aarau, Switzerland were included. Observational non-protocol HAROW versus on-protocol Kantonsspital Aarau (KSA) was compared, and active-treatment-free survival represented the primary outcome. Results Study population of the observational HAROW versus tertiary care protocol-based KSA cohorts differed statistically significantly regarding age ( p