<strong>Updated clinical tool helps predict course of prostate cancer.</strong>

Since 1993, physicians have depended upon the Partin Tables to predict if their patients’ prostate cancer is localized (confined to the prostate) or if it has spread. The tables, a statistical model used to estimate the probability of a surgical cure, were recently updated.

If the cancer is confined to the prostate, the chance for a surgical cure is likely. However, the updated tables show that some men, who were previously thought to not have a good prognosis — they had intermediate disease — can be cured with surgery.

The Johns Hopkins’ website has a page with a calculator where prostate cancer patients can enter their clinical stage (which is based upon their digital rectal exam), their PSA number and Gleason score to assess their probability organ-confined cancer.

Dr. Alan Partin, professor and director of urology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, created the tables.

Source: <a href="http://urology.jhu.edu/prostate/partintables.php" target="_blank">http://urology.jhu.edu/prostate/partintables.php</a>