The FALCON Consensus on focal therapy (FT) for prostate cancer (PCa) collected input from 245 physicians involved in PCa care. This analysis explored whether respondents’ geographic origin influenced their answers, highlighting potential demographic variability in expert opinion.
Respondent anonymity was preserved while recording the country of clinical practice. Items related to expertise, personal opinions, and patient selection from the 181-item FALCON questionnaire were analyzed by continent. Each respondent rated agreement on a 1–9 scale (9 = strongly agree; 1 = strongly disagree). Data were analyzed using SPSS v23 and RStudio to generate summary tables and heatmaps.
Of 191 physicians completing the FALCON questionnaire, 181 provided demographic data: North America (n = 44), Central/South (C./S.) America (n = 12), Europe (n = 112), Asia (n = 9), and Oceania (n = 4). Intercontinental variability was observed in costs, access to FT technologies, and practitioner experience. Respondents from Asia and C./S. America more often agreed that treatment choice is price-driven and that FT is not reimbursed, whereas Europe reported higher reimbursement rates and lower cost influence. Access to energy sources was uneven, with greater availability in Europe. Regarding patient selection, divergent opinions on ISUP grade eligibility are shown inFigure 1. North America and Europe reported greater use of genomic testing and MRI-based staging. Oceania favored the use of PSMA PET-CT and irreversible electroporation (IRE) as an energy source regardless of lesion location.
Geographic origin influenced expert opinions within the FALCON Consensus. Economic context, diagnostic infrastructure, and local technology availability appear to drive regional differences in FT practice.
This study received no specific funding