prostate-report.org

Watchful waiting not distressing for most prostate patients

New research at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands shows “watchful waiting” for disease progression won’t make men with slow-growing prostate cancer more anxious or distressed, especially if they’re in relatively good health otherwise and not too anxious to begin with.

Watchful waiting, also called active surveillance, aims to delay or avoid the side effects of radical treatment, such as surgery or radiation. Nevertheless, concerns have been raised that not undergoing active treatment could cause anxiety and distress in these patients.

Researchers concluded that men who had neurotic personalities — meaning they showed excessive worry and anxiety over normal life events — were more likely to be anxious, as were those who felt their physicians had an important role in how their prostate cancer would be treated. Older men and those in good physical health were less anxious and distressed.