Decision on prostate cancer treatment?
September 1, 2010 by Administrator
Filed under Prostate Cancer, Watchful Waiting
My brother is 54 yrs old and was just diagnosed with prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 5. His PSA was 4.25. The biopsy showed that he only had traces of cancer on the right side of his prostate and it was limited to that area. He is in excellent health and very active, and has not shown any signs of any urinary problems.
He is considering the treatment option of "watchful waiting". What are your thoughts on this vs possibly robotic surgery? Some doctors prefer surgery when the patient is this young. Thanks for your inputs on this.
With a Gleason Score of 5 and a PSA of 4.25, "Watchful Waiting" or "Active Surveillance" as it is also called, is a valid choice. prostate cancer is a very slow growing cancer. Many men rush into treatment as soon as they are diagnosed because they fear that the cancer has spread outside the prostate and they want to contain it. Your brother has time and his age on his side. Use this time to become informed about the disease, the treatments available, and the side-effects of those treatments. Active Surveillance requires careful monitoring of PSA levels and further biopsies to determine the rate of growth of the tumor, do not make the mistake of ignoring the problem. As long as the tumor is organ confined and slow growing there is no need to take action.
Robotic Surgery is an excellent choice for your brother given his age and his general good health, when he is ready for it. In the hands of a very skilled surgeon the outcome can be superior to the traditional surgical approach. The key is finding a surgeon who has done hundreds of these procedures, the learning curve for Robotic Assisted Surgery is very high, and the best results with minimal side-effects are with the Doctors who have the most experience.