Surgery No Better Than Observation for Local Prostate Tumor

Men with localized prostate cancer may not benefit from radical surgery. There are few areas in medicine that are more controversial than detecting and treating prostate cancer. Conventional wisdom has urged early detection and surgical removal of any cancer found. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine, however, shows that men with localized prostate cancer were just as likely to survive if placed under observation as if they had radical prostatectomies. The scientists randomly assigned men to surgery or observation and followed them for 10 years. Although a few more men who received prostatectomy survived, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. This new evidence should be taken into account as men and their physicians ponder how to treat a localized prostate tumor.
[The New England Journal of Medicine, July 19, 2012]