Early-Stage Prostate Cancer Often Overtreated

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. That seems to be the sentiment of many men diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. Choose surgery and risk lifelong incontinence and often total loss of sexual function. Choose radiation and risk recurrence of the cancer.

There is a dearth of research comparing treatment options that could help those diagnosed with prostate cancer make an informed choice about treatment, according to an Associated Press article that appeared in the Columbus Dispatch (click the post title to read the article). Treatment options include surgery, two types of radiation, or watching small tumors to see if treatment will even become necessary.

The gap in advice leads to overtreatment of early-stage tumors and treatment selections based on fear or misperceptions, according to Dr. John Fiveash, a radiation oncologist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Dr. Fiveash and colleagues at the University of Michigan hope to change that through the development of specialized multi-disciplinary prostate cancer clinics.

"Not all prostate cancer is the same," stresses Dr. John Wei, a urologist at the University of Michigan. Fully 55% of men with low-risk tumors are overtreated and forced to cope with unnecessary complications such as impotence and incontinence, he said. While aggressive prostate cancer can kill, most tumors are so small and slow-growing when discovered that there is a good chance the patient will die of other causes before significant symptoms develop or the tumor becomes life-threatening.

According to the American Cancer Society, one man in every 6 will get prostate cancer, but only one in 34 will die from it. "Roughly 12 million American men are walking around today with microscopic signs of prostate cancer," says alternative medicine authority Dr. Burton Goldberg in his best-seller An Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide to Cancer. "For most of these men, the PSA may cause unnecessary worry and premature treatment because it picks up prostate tumors that are likely to remain inactive for life. In other words, men with this form of the disease die with prostate cancer, not from prostate cancer."

Fewer than 10% of all doctors who recommend surgery even discuss watchful waiting with their patients, Dr. Goldberg says. "This profit-driven situation persists despite excellent data supporting the practice of watchful waiting and despite the fact that incontinence, impotence, and other side effects too frequently follow prostate surgery."

Dr. Goldberg recommends a multimodal approach to combating prostate cancer that combines alternative therapies and conventional treatments to attack the cancer on multiple fronts. Diet and exercise can have a profound effect on prevention and containment of early-stage prostate cancer. For a complete discussion of prostate and other cancers, visit Dr. Goldberg's website for a preview of his groundbreaking video documentary Cancer Conquest. In interviews with national medical experts, Dr. Goldberg thoroughly explores the latest treatment options in both alternative and conventional medicine. He is also available for telephone consultation to help you determine the treatments that will most benefit you. A diagnosis of cancer is frightening. Dr. Goldberg can help you understand what is happening to your body and find the best ways to fight and combat prostate cancer. Contact Dr. Goldberg today.