Long-term Surveillance of Low-risk PCa a Valid Option

the Renal and Urology News take:

A new study reveals favorable long-term outcomes for active surveillance of lower risk prostate cancer.

During a 10- to 15-year follow-up period, researchers found just 1.5% reported cases of prostate cancer metastasis and 1.3% reported deaths from the disease among a cohort of 993 men with lower risk prostate cancer on active surveillance.

In this group, mortality from other causes was 9.2 times greater than the risk of dying from prostate cancer. In light of these findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, active surveillance seems a safe option in select patients.

Ideally, active surveillance would prevent overtreatment of prostate cancers that progress only slowly. Overtreatment sometimes leads to incontinence, erectile dysfunction and other problems.

New imaging techniques and molecular biomarkers might help determine which patients should be considered for active surveillance.

In the study, treatment was offered to patients for a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) doubling time of less than 3 years, Gleason score progression, or unequivocal clinical progression.