Active Surveillance
Prostate cancer can grow slowly and you may want to wait before jumping into receiving active treatment, depending on what stage you are in. Depending on your situation, deferring treatment for a while may be your best choice. During this period, your primary care doctor will closely monitor your health and take action only if there are signs that the disease is progressing. This is often referred to as active surveillance, watchful waiting, expectant therapy, or sometimes just observation.
It’s important to recognize that active surveillance is not the same as doing nothing. It is often said more men will die with prostate cancer than from it. In many cases, prostate cancer grows so slowly that a man can reach his full life expectancy before the cancer ever becomes a serious threat.
Because active surveillance involves monitoring the situation closely, it’s important for patients to stay on top of their game by getting frequent PSA testing, repeat biopsies, and regular scans for any signs that the disease is advancing.
This approach can be combined with dietary changes, exercise and other efforts to help keep the cancer from growing.
Men can always begin another form of treatment if their cancer shows any signs of becoming a threat.
Active surveillance is most often recommended for men in their 70s and older with non-aggressive localized cancers.
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommends active surveillance for men with low-risk prostate cancer with a 10-year life expectancy and for men with very low-risk prostate cancer who have a life expectancy of less than 20 years.
