Is Watchful Waiting a Viable Treatment Option?
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It’s hard to believe that this could be a legitimate treatment option for prostate cancer, but watchful waiting or “active surveillance” is sometimes considered by doctors treating their patients. It is what it sounds like: doing nothing but monitoring the cancerous prostate gland carefully for signs of matastisizing or an increase in cancer cells. While not a true therapy per se, watchful waiting can be useful in certain situations, such as older gentlemen and men with a low PSA count.
Since prostate cancer is such a slow growing disease, watchful waiting can be a safe possibility if conditions warrant it. Much of the time it is recommended to the more elderly patients, whose natural lifespan is expected to be shorter than the length of time in which the disease would be able to spread. Since more invasive treatment can affect quality of life, the doctor will make a careful determination if this form of “treatment” is a good fit for the patient’s cancer.
On occasion, watchful waiting, may also be used on those who have very low PSA levels and Gleason scores. Since these are all indications that the prostate cancer MAY be slow and non-aggressive, surgery and other more radical treatments can be effectively put off for a few years as long as the doctor continues to regularly monitor the cancer. Keep in mind, however, that if the cancer begins to grow, aggressive treatment may need to begin soon.
In general, watchful waiting is good for those who are extremely elderly, or with other debilitating diseases. Most men are going to want to choose a more permanent treatment for their prostate cancer, as this will probably be the eventual outcome anyway.
Back to prostate cancer treatment.
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