Prostate cancer and why doing nothing can be the right option

Some men with prostate cancer should be offered monitoring of their condition rather than radical surgery or radiotherapy, say new NHS guidelines.

Doctors treating patients with intermediate or low-risk prostate cancer should consider ‘active surveillance’ – keeping an eye on the problem rather than treating it immediately, according to the NHS watchdog.

Updated guidance from Nice says prostate cancer can be slow growing and that many men will have cancer that will not cause them any harm in their lifetime.

Considerations: NHS guidelines suggest some men suffering from prostate cancer should receive monitoring rather than radiotherapy (file picture)

Prostate cancer is the commonest cancer in men. In the UK, more than 40,000 are diagnosed with it each year and the condition leads to approximately 10,000 deaths.

But men with early-stage prostate cancer can live for years without their disease getting worse and many face the dilemma of deciding whether to opt for therapy which may lead to side effects or active surveillance which delays treatment. Read more at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2535525/Prostate-cancer-doing-right-option.html