About Prostate Cancer Institute The Prostate Cancer Institute (PCI) is an organization dedicated to providing authoritative, up-to-date information about prostate cancer to men with the disease and their partners. This educational website is the primary educational outreach of PCI. Millions of men with prostate cancer are unaware of the symptoms and the profound effects of prostate cancer on relationships. Unaware that other treatment options are available, many men choose to forego the pain, suffering, and side effects of radical prostatectomy and radiation therapy and opt for a course of "watchful waiting." Information can bring hope to these men, and lead to a resolution of their disease so they don't have to live with the cancer. PCI believes that men with prostate cancer are best served by receiving treatment from a urologist who specializes in prostate cancer. The latest advances in prostate cancer diagnostics, therapies, and medical techniques can take a long time to reach most physicians. PCI has identified a group of the most experienced and knowledgeable urologists specializing in prostate cancer and offers assistance in linking patients with these physicians.

The work of PCI is supported by the voluntary efforts of the PCI Advisory Board and other physicians. Special thanks are due to Galil Medical Systems for their financial support and contribution of many of the graphics that illustrate the articles found on this site.

The PCI editorial process and policy
The primary mission of PCI is to provide information about prostate cancer to the general public in easy-to-understand layman's language. To this end, content development begins with a team of experienced medical writers. These writers specialize in translating complex medical concepts into layman's language that patients are likely to understand. They consult a variety of reliable sources as the basis for developing original content. These sources include the latest information from the most important medical journals, announcements from federal health agencies, and analyses on the latest health trends, articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, papers and presentations made at medical conferences, federal or state government actions, and original material derived from interviews with medical experts. The articles written for this Website as of January 2003, were done by Dick Kuykendall and Gary Lindberg.

Once an article is written, it is submitted to a copy editor for proofreading, analysis of reading level, and editing of grammar. The article is finally submitted to the PCI Advisory Board, which is comprised of practicing physician specialists in the subject, for approval of medical accuracy. After approval, the article is converted to HTML and published on the PCI Website.

PCI publishes no advertising content on its Website; however, some of the images used to illustrate various articles portray products manufactured by various medical device or pharmaceutical companies such as Galil Medical Systems. Brand and product names are used in articles only when such names are deemed to be important to the best interest of the patient or when such names are so closely associated with a therapy as to be indistinguishable from the therapy itself.

Conflict of interest policy for content
The PCI Advisory Board is comprised of independent physician specialists who have no financial interest in PCI or other known special interests that may result in a conflict of interest regarding their objective analysis, editing, and approval of content. It should be understood, however, that physicians have strong treatment preferences based on their education and practical experience, and these preferences may shape the approval process. For this reason, no fewer than two independent Advisory Board members must evaluate all content and provide approval before publishing the content on the PCI Website.

PCI can be contacted at:

Prostate Cancer Institute
10250 Valley View Road, Suite 145
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
publisher@prostate-cancer-institute.org