Urine test can predict high-risk prostate cancer
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 Posted in watchful waiting | No Comments »Because many prostate cancers are slow growing and never become life threatening, many men with early stage prostate cancer choose active surveillance – delaying treatment while closely monitoring to see whether the cancer progresses. According to recent study at Fred Hutchinson ...
Prostate cancer study proves the drug dutasteride delays disease progression
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 Posted in prostate cancer, watchful waiting | No Comments »Good news coming from University Health Network for men diagnosed with low-risk, localized prostate cancer. Results of a three-year international clinical trial show that being treated with the drug dutasteride ("Avodart") delays disease progression and initiating active treatment, and also ...
Will active surveillance save us money in management of prostate cancer?
Thursday, January 19th, 2012 Posted in watchful waiting | No Comments »From a health economics point of view, prostate cancer costs a lot of money every year - because a lot of men get diagnosed and treated. However, data on the cost-effectiveness of active surveillance compared to immediate treatment are still few ...
For some prostate cancers, waiting beats treatment
Saturday, January 14th, 2012 Posted in watchful waiting | No Comments »If lung cancer is like a fast-moving wildfire, prostate cancer is like a slow-moving sloth. About 30% of men over age 50, and about 70% of men over age 70, have at some cancerous cells in their prostate glands. Yet ...
Opting to track instead of treat early prostate cancer
Friday, December 23rd, 2011 Posted in watchful waiting | No Comments »Very few patients with early stage prostate cancer choose active surveillance option. That means to keep a close watch on the tumor and treat only if it starts to grow.Being in early stage, the risk for them is so low, in fact, ...
Active monitoring and delay endorsed as treatment for low-risk prostate cancer
Saturday, December 10th, 2011 Posted in watchful waiting | No Comments »An independent panel convened this week by the National Institutes of Health has concluded that many men with localized, low-risk prostate cancer should be closely monitored, permitting treatment to be delayed until warranted by disease progression. However, monitoring strategies—such as ...
Watch-and-wait prostate treatment
Thursday, November 17th, 2011 Posted in watchful waiting | No Comments »The development of the PSA test and its widespread use greatly increased diagnosis of this disease, often of cases that would never have become a clinical problem. In such cases, doctors may suggest “watchful waiting” - repeated monitoring of the prostate with ...
What is active surveillance?
Monday, November 14th, 2011 Posted in watchful waiting | No Comments »Active surveillance, some expert say, can be applied to men with a PSA under 10 and Gleason score under 7 who have early-stage disease and no evidence of cancer beyond the prostate. He describes the somewhat unconventional approach as follows: <> Making ...
Radiotherapy beats watchful waiting in early-stage prostate cancer
Saturday, October 8th, 2011 Posted in radiation therapy, watchful waiting | No Comments »According to a clinical trial abstract presented at the 2011 ASTRO Annual Meeting, external beam radiotherapy substantially reduced both distant and clinical progression of disease in patients diagnosed with early localized prostate cancer, when compared against 'watchful waiting.'
Active surveillance acceptance in prostate cancer management
Friday, September 2nd, 2011 Posted in watchful waiting | No Comments »People need to take time and education (of physicians and of patients) to transform the generations long belief that first line treatment for any forms of solid tumor is simply to “take it out.” Surgeons are taught this from the ...