LETTER TO PATIENTS

Once again I have the opportunity to share with you some of our most exciting treatment and research results. In this issue, we report unique and important findings on the inheritance of prostatic cancer, the ability of radical prostatectomy to cure prostate cancer with few side effects, the influence of hormones on growth of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and experimental work on nerve grafts to restore sexual function after wide excision of tumors.

I am grateful for the support I've received from all of you, including your enthusiastic involvement in the study of genetic factors in prostate cancer and the diligent involvement by some of you in the study of hormones and benign prostatic hyperplasia and the use of ultrasound and MRI in the preoperative staging of prostate cancer.

Thank you also for the generous contributions that have made all of this possible. As this goes to press, other new and exciting advances are under way; they will be the subject of our next issue.

Sincerely yours,

Patrick C. Walsh, M.D.
Urologist in Chief