Do you or does someone in your family have prostate cancer? This year alone, about 240,000 men will be given this diagnosis, 81 percent of whom will discover the disease at a very early age. But treatment can be intense.
Many men who receive this diagnosis will choose aggressive treatment, including removal of the prostate and radiation. However, of those who do so, many will end up impotent, incontinent, or both. As a result, men want to know - are there any other options?
What if you didn't treat the cancer at all? According to "The Well Column", a New York Times blog, "about 10 percent of men choose a different strategy: no treatment at all. The decision to forgo surgery or radiation is controversial, and is often met with resistance from a man?s own doctors and family members."
But a new study is supporting that simply "watching" the disease may be a very logical decision for those diagnosed. The study, published just last week, showed that "men with early-stage disease who opt for watchful waiting are just as likely to survive as men who undergo surgery."
?Men have a strong belief that if they are diagnosed with cancer, they will die from the cancer if it?s left untreated, and they believe that treatment will cure them,? said Dr. Wilt, professor of medicine at University of Minnesota School of Medicine and lead author of the report. ?This study adds to growing evidence that observation can be a wise and preferred treatment option for the vast majority of men. It allows them to live a similar length of life and avoid death from prostate cancer and avoid the harms of treatment.?
Read more:Often, Just Watching Prostate Cancer Is Enough - NYTimes.com.
Written by TV Ears News and Views Editor Amanda Steeley
?Source: http://tvearsnewsandviews.com/leave-prostate-cancer-untreated/
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