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Prostate Cancer – The diagnosis. The fear.

A diagnosis of prostate cancer would seem to need immediate treatment

But wait! Prostate cancer is so common.  Autopsy studies of men dying of other causes, show prostate cancer in most every man.  It’s so common the risk can be calculated by putting a percentage sign after any man’s age.  A 50-year-old, for example, has a 50% chance.  A 70-year-old has a 70% chance …

More than half of these “cancers,” those that are grade 6 or less, are totally harmless and will never spread outside the prostate.  For these, surgery or radiation is far more devastating than the disease.

Immediate surgery has NO impact on survival

1. Studies of men with low-grade disease comparing immediate surgery with simple observation show no difference in a ten-year survival.

2. Active Surveillance reports ten-year death rates between 0-3%.  1000 men observed at Johns Hopkins Hospital, not a single man died of prostate cancer or developed metastases.  450 men observed in Toronto, only 5 men died of prostate cancer.

>  Surgery and Radiation have permanent side effects. 475 men studied 4 years after having surgery or radiation – less than 20% described their sexual function as returning to normal.

> 785 men studied, 3 years after surgery or seed implantation – less than 20% who had surgery and 50% of the men who had seeds described their sexual function as returning to normal.

See References here

In September 2016, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article entitled “10-Year Outcomes after Monitoring, Surgery, or Radiotherapy for Localized Prostate Cancer.” Dr. Scholz authored | https://www.verywell.com/choosing-the-best-treatment-for-prostate-cancer-4096772