Demonstrable Equitable Access of Testing for Metastatic Prostate in a Veteran Affairs Medical Center (VAMC)
S Dalal, J M Petersen, D Jhala- General Medicine
Abstract
Introduction/Objective
Prostate adenocarcinoma that has metastasized carries a significantly worse prognosis than prostate adenocarcinoma that is contained within the prostate. When there are metastases outside of the prostate, biopsies to diagnose this metastasis can help direct management and treatment of the patient. While there are known differences in the incidence of prostate cancer between different ethnic groups and differences in ethnic access to care and diagnosis varies widely between distinct medical practices, the ethnic access to biopsy diagnoses for metastatic lesions particularly in a Veteran population has not been well studied.
Methods/Case Report
A retrospective study was performed on cases from December 2019 to October 2022 to identify cases of metastatic prostatic adenocarcinoma seen at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). A comparison with the census data of the metropolitan area whereby the VAMC was located was also performed.
Results (if a Case Study enter NA)
A total of 21 cases demonstrating metastatic prostatic adenocarcinoma were found. The ethnic distribution of the cases included 12 African Americans (57%), 7 Caucasian Americans (33%), and 2 of unknown ethnicity (10%). The census of the metropolitan area where the VAMC was located demonstrated a general population ethnic composition of 43.6% African American and 44.4% Caucasian American.
Conclusion
The ethnic distribution of patients with pathology specimens demonstrating metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma is not significantly different than the census of the involved metropolitan area, demonstrating equitable access to biopsy diagnoses for metastatic lesions in patients with metastatic prostatic adenocarcinoma.