Active Surveillance: The gift that keeps on giving
(You may not beat prostate cancer. But you can beat unnecessary treatment that puts you at risk of the side effects from surgery and radiation, such as impotence and incontinence.
(In 2022, the American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 260,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. A large number will be treated. Few will have a deadly form of prostate cancer. But many will undergo unnecessary surgery or radiation because of an epidemic of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. It’s a scandal.
(In 2010, I nearly became one of those statistics. Instead, I had a second opinion and went on a protocol known as Active Surveillance with close monitoring. I never had a cancer symptom but a urologist try to rush me into his OR. I helped start advocacy and support groups for men on AS from ASPI.org and AnCan.org to spare men from unnecessary treatment,
(The Active Surveillor starts today with my story. But The Active Surveillor newsletter will share the stories of others on AS and the issues with which we deal. This essay is from the January 11, 2022 edition of STAT News.)
In the run-up to the holidays 11 years ago, a doctor gave me a gift that keeps on giving.
Just one day after being diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 63 and being told by a private-practice urologist that I needed a “cure” — surgery to have my prostate removed (which, by the way, carried the very real possibility of a permanent end to my sex life and urinary incontinence) — a doctor at the University of Chicago gave me an encouraging second opinion: while I could fare well with surgery, an emerging approach known as active surveillance (AS) could be a good option for me. He even called me the “poster boy” for it.
I hadn’t experienced a single symptom of prostate cancer. My only warning was a rise in the amount of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in my blood — which was still below the cancer cutoff of 4.0, meaning my cancer was at a very early stage.
Go here for the rest: https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/11/active-surveillance-for-prostate-cancer-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/