Data on Prostate Cancer Survival

Men with nonaggressive prostate cancer who were treated with hormones or took no action at all are unlikely to die of the disease even 20 years later, new research shows.

Conversely, the disease is likely to be deadly for men with signs of more aggressive cancer treated with hormones or just observation.

The new study, with an average follow-up of 24 years, suggests men with low-grade, localized cancers might do well with little or no treatment, avoiding the surgery or radiation that can cause impotence and incontinence.

The findings are the latest to support a cautious approach in treating some prostate cancers, although there is still debate about how to define the riskiest cases.

Prostate cancer

The research, led by Dr. Peter Albertsen at the University of Connecticut, appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The new study casts doubt on the earlier findings and suggests that "if you survive 15 years, it is unlikely that the tumor will turn ugly and progress," Albertsen said.

In the study, only 7 percent of the men with low-grade tumors died of prostate cancer during the study, compared with 66 percent of men with high-grade.

Courtesy of Associated Press 5/3/2005

Bonnie - I hate to say it, but I have been saying this for a long time. It's unfortunate that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of men over the last 20 years have had to go through uneccsary procedures and treatments with a slow growing cancer that in many cases can just be left alone and monitored.