A Swedish study has found that men with prostate cancer who had surgery shortly after their diagnosis didnt live any longer than those who waited almost two years.
The study echoes earlier research that early-stage prostate cancer is an illness than can be monitored over time instead of being treated immediately.
The study, published in the Journal of Urology, followed 2,566 men whose cancer had not spread beyond the prostate gland. Comparing the survival rates of men who had surgery on an average of three months after diagnosis with those who waited 19 month, the researchers found no difference in their tumors. After an eight-year followup, the researchers found, long-term survival was also virtually the same for both groups.
In recent years experts have called for active surveillance in cases of early prostate cancer. That means that the illness will be monitored through blood tests, rectal exams and (in some cases) biopsies. Physicians have said that early-stage surgery is often not necessary and can cause urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. According to the federal National Cancer Institute, more than one million American men have undergone unnecessary prostate surgery since 1986.
But Dr. Benne Holmstrom, of Swedens Gavle Hospital, told Reuters that studies were needed to gauge the effectiveness of active surveillance over an even longer period of time than the eight-year followup.
