Month: February 2017

This is a real scenario and shows the complexity of managing certain situations about the prostate. Part of the problem is the common misconceptions about the prostate and prostate  cancer. As well all the things you read in the paper or hear on TV about new studies showing that the PSA is unreliable and is used too often by Urologists and in turn resulting in too many men being biopsied and then subsequently being treated…and subsequently as a result negatively affecting their lives with incontinence and impotence.

So imagine you are in the exam room with your doctor in the above situation and your urologist is walking you through the fine line of doing just the right amount of tests or procedures to determine if you have prostate cancer. The bottom line is that if you have cancer and this is found out a year after your office visit…you’d be…

Since all of the treatments for Prostate Cancer have similar cure rates at 15 yrs many patients base their choice of treatment on the potential for side effects.

For instance:

• If you absolutely could not tolerate total incontinence don’t choose surgery as this has the biggest risk for that complication.
• If you are worried that you could be totally impotent as a possibility don’t choose surgery. I am not saying it will occur you just have a higher chance of total loss of erectile function with surgery as opposed to radiation.
• Radiation negatively affects erections but not quickly or dramatically. It has a negative effect over time.
• Radiation patients don’t have total incontinence but do get urgency and frequency.

You get the drift…my advice?

Choose the treatment that you feel gives you the best chance of cure with the least side effects that matter most to you i.e. a patient…