Better Assessment Of Treatment Option For Prostate Cancer Is Necessary, Says A Study

The research conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) reports that the most common treatment given to the patients with prostatic cancer is radiation therapy, followed by radical prostatectomy wherein watchful waiting and active surveillance are ignored in most cases.

The prostatic cancer observational study was led by Dr Karim Chamie from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. It involved data of 37,000 patients from 2004 through 2007, provided by the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

About 58 percent of the prostate cancer patients were given radiation therapy and 19 percent get surgical removal of the prostate, known as prostatectomy. Only less than 10 percent were put under watchful waiting, where the doctors watches for the progress of the cancer before treating it and active surveillance in which the patients undergo active treatment and also monitored actively if the cancer progresses by routine biopsies, blood tests and MRI.

Chamie said that patients must consider the recommendation of the physicians regarding the aggressiveness of the cancer whether an active surveillance is preferred over cost incurring other options. Doctors and patients see radiation as an easy option than others as there is no anaesthesia or hospitalisation involved and takes only between 10 and 15 minutes of daily treatment in a specific area which has no upfront side effects.

The side effects start after two years in patients who underwent radiation therapy, says Chamie. They include anal leakage and bowel dysfunction, urinary incontinence and leakage of urine, erectile dysfunction, blood in the urine and radiation cystitis. The side effects could vary from patient to patient from mild to severe.

If the patient had aggressive prostate cancer and good life expectancy, it is acceptable to suffer these inconveniences; whereas in patients with slow cancer progress and limited life expectancy, these inconveniences are much of a pain than gain, says Chamie. So the doctor insists on the need for choosing a better option in the treatment of prostate cancer.

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail: saranya@ibtimes.com.au