Waiting on prostate treatment not distressing for most

	Tweet

“Watchful waiting” for disease progression won’t make men with slow-growing prostate cancer more anxious or distressed, especially if they’re in relatively good health otherwise and not too anxious to begin with, new research shows.

With watchful waiting, also called active surveillance, patients with early low-risk prostate tumors are monitored regularly and only treated if their cancer progresses. Watchful waiting aims to delay or avoid the side effects of radical treatment, such as surgery or radiation. Nevertheless, concerns have been raised that not undergoing active treatment could cause anxiety and distress in these patients.

To investigate, Dr. Roderick C. N. van den Bergh of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and colleagues looked at 129 men with slow-growing prostate cancers who opted for active surveillance over other types of treatment.

At about two months after their prostate cancer diagnosis and again nine months after diagnosis, the men underwent a battery of tests to measure their anxiety levels, fears of cancer progression, depressive symptoms, and other psychological and personality factors.

Just two of the men stopped active surveillance for non-medical reasons during the course of the study. The main factor that predicted a man’s level of anxiety at the second time point was how anxious he was at the study’s outset.

Men who had neurotic personalities—meaning they showed excessive worry and anxiety over normal life events—were more likely to be anxious, as were those who felt their physicians had an important role in how their prostate cancer would be treated. Older men and those in good physical health were less anxious and distressed.

In a commentary published with the study, Dr. Jeremy Couper of the Peter Mac Callum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, notes that in his own study of the psychological effects of various types of prostate cancer treatment, men who chose hormone therapy had worse mental health and quality of life than those who chose other options.

The new findings are “another piece in the jigsaw as we learn how best to advise patients diagnosed with potentially curable prostate cancer,” Couper concluded.

SOURCE: The Journal of Urology, May 2010.

RELATED STORIES:
Data Suggests a Diet High in Vegetable Intake Can Reduce Risk of Prostate Cancer   Prostate cancer patients disease free after 5 years likely to be disease free after 10 years   Delaying therapy OK for low-risk prostate cancer   Why African-American Men Are at Higher Risk for Prostate Cancer   Heavy drinking may boost prostate cancer risk   Severe Form of “Enlarged Prostate” Disease Discovered   New Bcl-2 Inhibitor Shows Promise in Cell Death in Prostate Cancer   Hopkins Prostate Cancer Experts Available   Researchers find prostate cancer stem cell   Gonorrhea linked to higher prostate cancer risk   Early Clinical Data Show Galeterone Safe, Effective Against Prostate Cancer   First Biomarker Discovered that Predicts Prostate Cancer Outcome   Obesity raises risk of prostate cancer recurrence   Prostate cancer screening: More harm than good?   Not all cancer patients improve lifestyle   Researchers identify promising cancer drug target in prostate tumors   Many prostate cancers caught by screening won’t kill   Low-grade prostate cancer may not require aggressive treatment   Castrate resistant prostate cancer: New therapeutic approaches   Newly Discovered Gene Fusion May Lead to Improved Prostate Cancer Diagnosis   University of Oklahoma Scientists Discover Way to Stop Pancreatic Cancer in Early Stages   Study examines the use of a novel suprapubic catheter in suprapubic prostatectomy

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]