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Nonaggressive prostate cancer patients may live longer
A new study concluded that men having nonaggressive prostate cancer who
took no action at all or were treated with hormones were unlikely to die of the
disease even 20 years later.
Based on database with an average follow-up of 24 years the research suggest
men with low-grade, localized cancers to avoid surgery or radiation that can
cause impotence and incontinence. The patients might do well with little or no
treatment
Conclusion of the study are published in May issue of Journal of the American
Medical Association. The research leader Peter Albertsen at the University of Connecticut
says that study takes into consideration 767 Connecticut men ages 55 to 74 who were
diagnosed from 1971 to 1984 with cancer. Very important fact is that this people had not
spread beyond the prostate gland and who received either hormone therapy or observation -
sometimes called ``watchful waiting.''
Prostate cancer ended up killing 228 men, mostly within the first 15 years after diagnosis,
and Albertsen concluded: ``if you survive 15 years, it is unlikely that the tumor will turn
ugly and progress.''
The study contrasts with a smaller, Swedish study published in the journal last year suggesting
that untreated, slow-growing localized tumors could turn deadly after 15 years.
Peter Gann of Northwestern University, said in a editorial that the studies aren't directly comparable
because the Swedish men might have had different types of tumors and received hormone treatment later.
Another conclusion of the new study, reinforces the importance of measuring tumor grade in predicting
outcomes for men with localized disease that has not spread
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