Watchful waiting OK in some prostate cancer: study (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Watchful waiting, even for years, does not worsen the outcome for men with small, low-grade prostate tumors, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

They said that men who delayed surgery, even for years, did not usually see their cancer worsen.

"This study suggests that for carefully selected men with prostate cancer who are monitored, the window of cure does not close in the short term," Dr. Ballentine Carter, a professor of urology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who led the study, said in a statement.

"For those men diagnosed with early-stage, low-grade prostate cancer, an alternative to immediate surgical treatment would be careful surveillance," he added in statement.

Writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Ballentine and colleagues said they have been watching 325 men with small, low-grade prostate cancer since 1995.

The 38 men who delayed treatment for up to two years were no more likely to develop aggressive cancer than the men who were treated within three months, they said.

Doctors and patients face confusing choices when it comes to prostate cancer, which kills 30,000 U.S. men a year and is diagnosed in 230,000 annually.

It is often a slow-growing tumor and doctors want to avoid over-treating men who may never die from the cancer -- but do not want to miss the aggressive cases.

"Some patients who learn they have cancer are anxious to have treatment 'yesterday.' We hope this study will illustrate that in many cases a safe alternative to immediate treatment is surveillance," Carter said.

"Specifically, these would be men with small, low-grade tumors."

Surveillance means regular examinations and regular blood tests for prostate specific antigen, or PSA, a protein made by prostate cells whose levels can shoot up as cancer develops.