Surviving Prostate Cancer
Prostate patients face a confusing array of treatment options—
including no treatment at all. Here’s how to make the right decision By JAY GRIFFIN
When psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., was diagnosed with
prostate cancer, he found himself in uncharted medical territory—not only as a patient, but as a physician. Unlike patients diagnosed with other diseases, for which treatment guidelines are
fairly clear, Torrey was stunned to realize that selecting a treatment plan for prostate cancer would be solely his responsibility.
“The single most shocking
thing about going through the
whole experience was that
nobody was willing to say,
‘This is what you need to do,’ ”
says Torrey. “This is a type of
cancer for which there are
several options, and there’s not
a vast literature that says one
is better than the other for the
majority of patients.”
treatments are being developed—and
standard treatments are being im-
proved—giving men the tools they need
to make the right decisions. Here’s what
you need to know.
One in every
six men will be
diagnosed during
his lifetime.
The not-so-exclusive men’s club of
prostate cancer survivors is more than
2 million members strong and growing. As Torrey discovered, membership brings with it some hard choices
about what to do and how to cope with
the side effects. Fortunately, newer
To treat or not to treat
Surprisingly, the first decision is whether the cancer needs to be treated at all.
For men who have small, low-grade
localized tumors—or those whose life
expectancy is fewer than ten years, because of advanced age or serious health
problems—a wait-and-see approach
called watchful waiting or expectant
management may be appropriate.
“Not treating is actually a very
reasonable option, and I think it’s
one that’s too often overlooked,”
says Mark Litwin, M.D., professor of
health services and urology at UCLA.
