Post by admin on Mar 21, 2014 8:31:26 GMT -8
The Prostate Cancer Advocates Forum site, PCAF, wants to help you become your own best advocate, and offers this best practice advice: create your own 1-page PC Case History document.
Why create and maintain a PC Case History? Empower yourself with information, while quickly & accurately enabling discussions with your current or future physicians with the important relevant facts about your unique case.
What is a PC Case History? The PC Case History is a growing, evolving document which may start with just a few available clinical and laboratory findings. PSA timeline is a key metric for tracking PC case history, and the PSA timeline is a foundation of the PC Case History document. Pre-treatment PSA helps predict response to local therapy, and post-treatment PSA is used to monitor therapy success and biochemical recurrence.
The PC Case History document consists of a PSA timeline overlaid with additional case information. The PSA timeline is easily created in Microsoft Excel, or another spreadsheet application, or hand-drawn on an 8.5”x11” sheet of paper. While some cases grow in detail and complexity over time, the PCAF best practice recommendation is to be brief, concise and only include important relevant facts on a single sheet of paper (think of it as an “executive summary”).
How do I start? Begin by gathering results of each and every PSA test result you have ever had, including pre-diagnosis, if available. Create a PSA timeline as a “line or scatter chart” in Excel (or other application) with time as the x-axis and PSA (ng/mL) as the y-axis. If you are creating the chart by hand, leave room on x-axis to the right of the chart for the next several years of results, and also leave room on the y-axis for possible increased results, if applicable to your case (or depending on how optimistic/pessimistic you are.
Next, gather relevant case history; in particular, add clinical and laboratory findings at the time of diagnosis (Dx). These details are recommended: age at diagnosis, date of diagnosis, number of biopsy cores obtained, number of cores positive, Gleason score (GS), was one side or both sides involved, prostate volume, staging, recurrence risk category, imaging results.
Finally, add subsequent clinical analysis results and treatment modes.
PLEASE NOTE: For anyone who needs help with this, the PCAF staff is available and willing to help you make a PSA chart; please email us (contact.forum.staff@gmail.com) for guidance or assistance. We are glad to help you prepare your PC Case History, and to help you become your own best advocate!
Next steps? We would encourage you to also post your PC Case History in your PCAF profile signature. Several members have already done so: see KC's signature and bob's signature. The steps to posting online are a little more complicated, but again the PCAF staff would be happy to assist you in the steps required. Basically, your PC Case History must be uploaded to one of the many online "dropboxes" where photos may be displayed, then linked (using BBCode) to your signature. Sound complicated? It's not...if you are able to sign-up and post on an online forum, then you've got the skills to complete these next steps. But we are absolutely here to help!
There are dozens of free online "dropboxes" or photo-sharing websites, and you may already be using one of them; they include: Flickr, Instagram, Photobucket, Shutterfly, Snapfish, TinyPic and many others. An up-to-date list is found HERE.
,
Why create and maintain a PC Case History? Empower yourself with information, while quickly & accurately enabling discussions with your current or future physicians with the important relevant facts about your unique case.
What is a PC Case History? The PC Case History is a growing, evolving document which may start with just a few available clinical and laboratory findings. PSA timeline is a key metric for tracking PC case history, and the PSA timeline is a foundation of the PC Case History document. Pre-treatment PSA helps predict response to local therapy, and post-treatment PSA is used to monitor therapy success and biochemical recurrence.
The PC Case History document consists of a PSA timeline overlaid with additional case information. The PSA timeline is easily created in Microsoft Excel, or another spreadsheet application, or hand-drawn on an 8.5”x11” sheet of paper. While some cases grow in detail and complexity over time, the PCAF best practice recommendation is to be brief, concise and only include important relevant facts on a single sheet of paper (think of it as an “executive summary”).
How do I start? Begin by gathering results of each and every PSA test result you have ever had, including pre-diagnosis, if available. Create a PSA timeline as a “line or scatter chart” in Excel (or other application) with time as the x-axis and PSA (ng/mL) as the y-axis. If you are creating the chart by hand, leave room on x-axis to the right of the chart for the next several years of results, and also leave room on the y-axis for possible increased results, if applicable to your case (or depending on how optimistic/pessimistic you are.
Next, gather relevant case history; in particular, add clinical and laboratory findings at the time of diagnosis (Dx). These details are recommended: age at diagnosis, date of diagnosis, number of biopsy cores obtained, number of cores positive, Gleason score (GS), was one side or both sides involved, prostate volume, staging, recurrence risk category, imaging results.
Finally, add subsequent clinical analysis results and treatment modes.
PLEASE NOTE: For anyone who needs help with this, the PCAF staff is available and willing to help you make a PSA chart; please email us (contact.forum.staff@gmail.com) for guidance or assistance. We are glad to help you prepare your PC Case History, and to help you become your own best advocate!
Next steps? We would encourage you to also post your PC Case History in your PCAF profile signature. Several members have already done so: see KC's signature and bob's signature. The steps to posting online are a little more complicated, but again the PCAF staff would be happy to assist you in the steps required. Basically, your PC Case History must be uploaded to one of the many online "dropboxes" where photos may be displayed, then linked (using BBCode) to your signature. Sound complicated? It's not...if you are able to sign-up and post on an online forum, then you've got the skills to complete these next steps. But we are absolutely here to help!
There are dozens of free online "dropboxes" or photo-sharing websites, and you may already be using one of them; they include: Flickr, Instagram, Photobucket, Shutterfly, Snapfish, TinyPic and many others. An up-to-date list is found HERE.
,
