> Multicenter National Database Program

Making Progress in the Fight Against Prostate Disease

Today, very little is known about how to prevent prostate disease, and there is no consensus on how to lower the risks. As knowledge about prostate disease has increased, the medical research community has begun to develop new therapeutic approaches. However, more extensive research is needed to understand the disease and develop new treatments.

The Center for Prostate Disease Research (CPDR) Multi-center National Database Program seeks to collect comprehensive data to learn more about prostate disease, particularly prostate cancer, so we can develop more effective prevention, diagnostic and treatment strategies.

This resource enables researchers to conduct important studies using existing data, preserving valuable time and resources and eliminating duplication of efforts. Extensive studies of the effectiveness of radical prostatectomy surgery and radiation therapy, and a study of the quality of life for cancer survivors are underway utilizing the database.

CPDR Multicenter National Database Program Missions

The CPDR database serves as a platform for the following missions:

1. To facilitate intramural and external basic science and clinical research;
2. To support translational research, especially at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where it is linked to a research tissue and serum bank for molecular genetic studies;
3. To perform data mining to identify patients for various clinical trials;
4. To provide a resource for education/training of medical residents and students;
5. To analyze the data by integrating prognostic variables;
6. To build clinical models predicting probability of prostate cancer in the diagnosis phase, optimal primary treatment in the treatment phase, and optimal recurrence treatment and outcome in the follow-up phase;
7. To post these models as software on the internet which is accessible by patients and physicians as tools for public education, patient self-testing, and physician’s decision support reference.