This year, about 200,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. At least 60 percent of them have such low-grade cancer that no treatment is necessary, yet about 90 percent of the men will be treated. Why? Fear, money, and some other bad reasons. Now comes a computer model developed by doctors at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Med School that recommends waiting and watching low risk prostate cancer, rather than opting a treatment that is likely to cause some serious impairment of quality of life–meaning incontinence and impotence. HealthDay reports that the computer used models representing a group of 65-year-old men with localized, low-risk prostate tumors, who were treated first with brachytherapy (placing radioactive “seeds” in or near the tumor), IMRT, a radical prostatectomy (removal of the prostate gland) or they were followed using active surveillance.The researchers used a measure called Quality-Adjusted Life Expectancy (QALE) to compare active surveillance to initial treatment. Active surveillance (and IMRT later if needed) was associated with more QALE at 11.07 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Brachytherapy produced a 10.57 QALYs rating, followed by IMRT at 10.51 QALYs, and surgery to remove the prostate at 10.23 QALYs.
Confused? Read more at HealthDay.