Active Surveillance IS Treatment for Early Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most prevalent cancer diagnosis annually among men. The majority of PCa diagnoses are indolent or early stage diagnoses. Further, most PCa’s are slow growing and many studies show PCa survivors dying of something else rather than prostate cancer.
Many men who are diagnosed with PCa and their caregivers will experience the anxiety that comes with knowing that they have cancer inside them. I understand the natural fear of cancer. I also understand the difficulty of living with permanent, long-term or late stage side effects. Please understand that many people live long, happy lives with slow growing cancer inside them.
The answer? The articles/studies linked below offer therapies that promote “active surveillance,“ as well as other non-conventional therapies.
- First, try to understand how aggressive your PCa is.
- Second, pursue non-toxic therapies that have been shown to slow or eliminate your cancer.
- Third, if you must treat your PCa, understand the possible side effects such as urinary incontinence, impotence, etc. that may accompany aggressive therapies such as prostatectomy and radiation and learn about therapies offering the potential for fewer side effects such as cryotherapy or HIFU therapy.
To learn about evidence-based, non-toxic PCa therapies scroll down the page and post a question or a comment. I will reply to you ASAP.
Thank you,
David Emerson
- Cancer survivor
- Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
“Taking vitamin D supplements could slow or even reverse the progression of less aggressive, or low-grade, prostate tumors without the need for surgery or radiation, a scientist will report today…
In cases of low-grade prostate cancer, many urologists do not treat the disease, but instead do what’s called “active surveillance,” says Bruce Hollis, Ph.D., who is at the Medical University of South Carolina. “The cure — meaning surgery or radiation — is probably worse than the disease, so they wait a year and then do another biopsy to see where the patient stands…”
Hollis wondered if giving these men vitamin D supplements during the 60-day waiting period would affect their prostate cancer. His previous research had shown that when men with low-grade prostate cancer took vitamin D supplements for a year, 55 percent of them showed decreased Gleason scores or even complete disappearance of their tumors compared to their biopsies a year before (J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., 2012, DOI: 10.1210/jc.2012-1451)…”
“Established to provide an actionable result for confident treatment decisions- The Oncotype DX prostate cancer assay is a gene expression assay that produces a Genomic Prostate Score (GPS) to help guide initial treatment decisions at the time of diagnosis. The GPS, a result ranging from 0-100, represents the biologic aggressiveness of the tumor…”
“One of the pioneers of focal therapy for prostate cancer, which has been described as a “male lumpectomy,” says that cancer control is good in the short and immediate term, and the majority of men retain potency and continence…”
“Men with low-risk prostate cancer — regardless of clinical characteristics or tumor biology — are being overtreated, often with radiation therapy, a population-based assessment has shown…”
“In a coverage policy document released January 12, 2018, CIGNA, a major private health insurance company, states that coverage of HIFU as a salvage therapy after failure of radiotherapy will be considered for patients who have completed a repeat transrectal ultrasounded-guided biopsy and who are suspected of having local recurrence of disease.
Evidence provided by prospective and retrospective noncomparative studies, although not robust, “suggests that HIFU is safe and effective for a subset of patients with localized recurrent prostate cancer after treatment with radiation therapy,” the CIGNA document says…”
