low mortality rate and excellent survival in men







Prostate cancer has a low mortality rate

Prostate cancer has an excellent survival rate, therefore it must not cause neglect of other illness

A group of researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, reports in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society that the majority of male population with early-stage, low- or moderate-grade prostate cancer die from causes other than prostate cancer. Therefore, prevention, screening and management of other health conditions is important in these patients.

In practice, once a diagnosis of cancer has been made, it can become the sole focus of medical care. This wrong approach is understandable, because cancer is typically life threatening and often requires dramatic therapy. But, according to researchers group conclusion, earlier cancer diagnoses, due to screening, and improvements in treatment have been associated with lower cancer mortality and excellen survival rate.

Statistics show that patients are living longer after a diagnosis of cancer, thus the mortality in these patients was similar to that of men the same age without prostate cancer.

  1. The survival rate of men with early stage prostate cancer with low to moderate grade tumors (59.1 per cent of the prostate cancer population) was not substantially worse than men without prostate cancer.
  2. Also, among those men, the leading cause of death was not prostate cancer (where the mortality rate was 2.1 per cent) but cardiovascular disease (6.4 per cent mortality rate) and other cancers (3.8 per cent).
  3. The substantial effect of other illnesses on survival and the high mortality rate from causes other than prostate cancer may have important implications


The authors noted that decisions about how to treat early stage prostate cancer should take into account the patient's age and other health factors likely to impact life expectancy.

For instance, if it is decided to use androgen deprivation therapy (prostate cancer feeds on the male sex hormone), then doctors should consider how this might affect the course of any other conditions.

Overall, the research group concludes that older men with early-stage prostate cancer "would be well served by an ongoing focus on screening and prevention of cardiovascular disease and other cancers."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatric Society, January 2009.



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