Delayed prostate cancer surgery has similar outcomes as immediate treatment

A new study finds that patients who delayed surgery by over a year had similar outcomes as those who opted for immediate treatment.

The issue is important because increasingly, experts are calling for expanded use of active surveillance in managing prostate cancer.

Since the introduction of widespread prostate cancer screening with PSA tests, a growing number of men have been diagnosed with early-stage tumors. The problem with this is that prostate cancer is often slow-growing and non-aggressive, so many men may be diagnosed with tumors that would never have caused them problems had they gone undetected.

This means that for some men, prostate cancer treatment can do more harm than good, as treatment carries a risk of side effects — including long-term urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.