Treatment of early prostate cancer can wait

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Surgical treatment of early
prostate cancers can be delayed for more than 2 years without
reducing the chances of curing the disease, new research shows.

The study, which appears in the Journal of the National
Cancer Institute, compared curability rates for 38 men who had
delayed surgery and 150 who were treated with immediate
surgery. Men in the former group underwent surgery around 26
months after diagnosis, while those in the latter group waited
only about 3 months.

Samples from the removed tumor were analyzed to determine
whether the cancer was curable or not.

A slightly higher rate of curable cancer was noted in the
immediate surgery group, but, from a statistical standpoint, it
was not significantly different from the rate seen in the
delayed surgery group, Dr. H. Ballentine Carter, from Johns
Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues report.

“Men who are diagnosed with early-stage, lower-grade
prostate cancer should not be led to believe that they have an
urgent situation that requires immediate treatment,” the
authors conclude.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, March 1,
2006.