A wait-and-see approach, that avoids the long-term side effects of surgery or radiation, may be more beneficial to some men suffering from prostate cancer.
Many prostate tumors grow so slowly that older men may are likely to die of other causes long before their cancer harms them. They may suffer less from the illness than from surgery and radiation, which can cause pain, incontinence and impotence.
Prostate cancer is diagnosed in nearly 219,000 men each year, and kills about 27,000. However, autopsies have shown that as many as 50 percent of men have undiagnosed "microscopic" prostate cancers.
Some researchers are suggesting a program of "active surveillance" for men with less aggressive tumors. Under such a program, men would not be sent directly to surgery; instead, doctors would conduct regular blood tests and physical exams to gauge whether prostate tumors are growing.
However, many men are uncomfortable with the wait-and-see approach. A study of 1,900 men with prostate cancer showed that in about 16 percent of those cases, or 310 men, the cancer was limited enough to give patients the option of close monitoring of the tumor. However, only 28 patients chose this course of treatment.
Last summer I ran an article about the unnecessary use of conventional treatments -- surgery or radiotherapy -- for many men diagnosed with a low-grade form of prostate cancer. Nevertheless, few men at low risk opt for close observation of their health. More often than not, they choose to be unnecessarily overtreated -- even though, in some cases, scientists believe patients may be harmed more by the cure than the disease itself.
Studies like these certainly give more credence than ever to the safer, self-healing protocol formulated by Dr. Larry Clapp. His program, spelled out in his book Prostate Health in 90 Days Without Drugs or Surgery, has enabled the men who have followed the program to actually heal their prostates.
When monitored by Prostate Sonograms, men who have followed the program can actually see the blood flow to a prostate tumor diminish, and then the tumor itself diminish and disappear, on successive sonograms.
According to Dr. Clapp, the only side effects are a renewed sexuality, and a healthier and happier, long life.
On Vital Votes, Roger from Nottingham in the United Kingdom offers a perspective on why this is a difficult choice for many men:
"Prostate cancer is a very complicated and emotive subject. I am not surprised to read that most men diagnosed do not want to opt for the watch and wait programme. Men being what they are and I am one too, when diagnosed just want to tear the cancer out of their body and so did I. "My Gleason score was read as 6 from my biopsy. I opted for a radical prostectomy after which, the pathology report showed that the true Gleason reading was 7. Leaving a cancer in place and risking it having been under-diagnosed or spreading is not conducive with a peaceful mind, especially with the way the average man thinks."
"Prostate cancer is a very complicated and emotive subject. I am not surprised to read that most men diagnosed do not want to opt for the watch and wait programme. Men being what they are and I am one too, when diagnosed just want to tear the cancer out of their body and so did I.
"My Gleason score was read as 6 from my biopsy. I opted for a radical prostectomy after which, the pathology report showed that the true Gleason reading was 7. Leaving a cancer in place and risking it having been under-diagnosed or spreading is not conducive with a peaceful mind, especially with the way the average man thinks."
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