New study confirms 'wait and see' approach best for some prostate cancers

May 4 2005

Men diagnosed with low-grade localized prostate cancer who opt not to undergo aggressive treatment for the disease are unlikely to die of the disease, even after 20 years, according to researchers in Connecticut.

In new research by a team at the University of Connecticut, scientists found evidence to further support the view that a cautious approach is appropriate in treating some prostate cancers.

Among men Prostate cancer is the most common major cancer and many men will eventually develop it, if they live long enough, large numbers of them with no symptoms.

The debate still rages about how to determine who is at highest risk, and common treatments, in most cases surgery or radiation, can leave patients impotent or incontinent.

This study led by Dr. Peter C. Albertsen, involved 767 Connecticut men of age varying from 55 to 74, who had prostate cancer that had not spread beyond the prostate who were diagnosed at some time between 1971 to 1984.

Some were given hormone therapy to halt the body's production of the male hormone testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer, while others were treated by observation, or as it is sometimes called "watchful waiting." Each subject was followed for 10 to 20 years.

The results found that of that original group of 767, 228 of the men died of Prostate cancer, most of them within the first 15 years after diagnosis. Most of those who died of the disease had had high-grade tumours with cells that looked very abnormal under a microscope. A vast majority of the men with nonaggressive tumours either died of other causes or survived.

The study is published in the current issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.