A recent medical study revealed that men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not have to undergo urgent surgery, but rather they can keep the disease under control through other methods that are no less effective.
According to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, people with prostate cancer can benefit from other treatment methods, including “continuous monitoring of the disease.”
The researchers explained that most men should not panic when they are diagnosed with prostate cancer, because treatment is not necessarily an urgent matter.
The study stated that the death rate from prostate cancer 15 years after the diagnosis of the disease remains low, regardless of the treatment plan followed.
The study, which began in the United Kingdom in 1999, included 2,664 men between the ages of 50 and 59 who had been diagnosed with localized prostate cancer.
These patients included in the study resorted to 3 treatment methods, as a first category chose to perform surgery, while others resorted to radiotherapy, while a third category preferred continuous monitoring.
After an average of 15 years, the researchers compared the recorded deaths among each group, in order to see how effective their choice was.
The results showed that there was no significant difference in how long patients lived after being diagnosed, regardless of the treatment method used.
Of the 1,610 patients followed, 45 died of prostate cancer, 17 who were in the active control group, 12 who underwent surgery to remove the tumor, and 16 who completed radiotherapy.
Death not attributable to prostate cancer occurred in 356 men, with similar numbers in all three treatment groups.
Once the follow-up was complete, 133 men in the active control group were alive without any treatment for prostate cancer.
The study indicated that the patients who are at high risk are the ones who need to take a quick treatment step, while others can wait until they decide on the most appropriate step for them.