Prostate Cancer

Stephen Van Den Eeden’s research program includes a substantial amount of work in prostate cancer. These research studies are directed at understanding what causes the disease, how we treat it, and what factors predict how men will fare after treatment. He is working with others at UCSF to understand the environmental and genetic factors that may help explain why African American men get diagnosed and die from the disease at higher rates compared to men of other race/ethnicities. A multi-site study of men in Portland, in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Southern California is searching for indicators in prostate tumors that can help us understand how aggressive a particular cancer may be and if it needs to be treated, as not all prostate cancers appear to need active treatment. In addition, he is studying what information men with a new diagnosis of prostate cancer feel they need in order to make the right individual decision. Finally, a new set of studies is focused on gaining a more complete picture of the advantages and disadvantages of some common prostate cancer treatment options.

Genitourinary Conditions

Another significant area of research for Van Den Eeden is benign (non-cancerous) genitourinary conditions. These conditions include urinary incontinence in women, enlarged prostate and urinary problems in men, and sexual problems such as erectile dysfunction. He has investigated these conditions in in large and diverse cohorts at Kaiser Permanente with funding from the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. His recent and current studies have examined how diabetes mellitus is associated with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), have studied how factors related to giving birth are related to urinary incontinence, and factors related to risk and progression of lower urinary tract symptoms in men and women.  Dr. Van Den Eeden currently has funding from the National Institutes of Health to study how factors or characteristics that occur when individuals are young adults may affect genitourinary problems later in life.

Cohort Studies

Dr. Van Den Eeden has conducted most of his studies on prostate cancer and genitourinary conditions in cohorts - groups of men and/or women who are followed over time. His cohort studies vary in size and include a small group of 2,100 women for urinary incontinence, as well as a large study of over 120,000 men followed for genitourinary problems such enlarged prostate or erectile dysfunction. The success of these studies is rooted in the help and dedication of the men and women who participate in the cohorts.