Dr. Hussain on the Need for Collaboration to Cure Prostate Cancer

Maha Hussain, MD, FACP, FASCO, a professor of medicine, Genevieve E. Teuton, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, as well as the deputy director, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, discusses the need for collaboration to cure patients with prostate cancer.

At the end of the day, physicians are not curing prostate cancer, says Hussain. It is very important to understand that cure is the ultimate goal. In working towards that goal, the benchmark is going to be prolonging life and reducing pain and suffering; the field has achieved several metrics in that direction. In addition to prolonging life, Hussain hopes to see this deadly disease reduced into more of a chronic disease, with the potential to achieve a cure.

Consequently, a multi-targeted attack strategy utilizing combination treatments is going to be important in order to cure prostate cancer, Hussain says. The field is going to need collaboration at multiple levels, including attacking the cancer with different drugs that can work together to impact the disease, concludes Hussain.