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06 April 2010 What prostate treatment is best for quality of life?Prostate patients with earlier stage of cancer have a number of prostate treatment options, from active surveillance to radiation or to radical surgery of the prostate gland. When it comes to surgery, robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery has become the dominant approach in the U.S. Many hospitals often aggressively market robotic surgery. They do that because invested the roughly $1.5 million for the machines, plus the costs of surgeon training and annual service contracts. Their marketing strategy may include claims that robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery carries lower risks of long-term incontinence and impotence than traditional open surgery. However, actual study data to prove that are lacking. In the new study, researchers at the Sentara Health System/Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk found, men treated with radioactive seeds tended to fare best in terms of quality of life, based on standardized questionnaires they completed before treatment and periodically for three years afterward. Patients who had received either radioactive seeds or cryotherapy had higher average scores when it came to urinary function, versus men who had either type of surgery. And together, men who had radioactive seed implants or cryotherapy were three times as likely as surgery patients to return to at least 90 percent of their pre-treatment score for urinary function. When it came to preservation of sexual function, radioactive seed patients reported a greater quality of life than those who had received any of the other three treatments. Study findings, reported in the Journal of Urology, offer men more information to consider when deciding on treatment. NOTE: Issues on this site regarding prostate cancer and treatment options, are provided for information only, and are not meant to substitute for the advice of your own physician or other medical professional. Prostate-Report.org does not endorse any specific product, service or treatment. |
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