Observing Prostate Cancer Gaining Ground On Surgery
By Richard Knox
Why Observing Prostate Cancer Is Gaining Ground On Surgery: NIH Panel Says Not Cancer
‘Some think these tumors should be rebranded as something else, such as idle tumors’
Panel: 'Watchful Wait' OK For Many Prostate Cancers
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Morning Edition [3 min 56 sec]
A government-sponsored expert panel says most cases of early prostate cancer shouldn't be called cancer at all, because the disease progresses very slowly, if at all. The group says men with these low-risk cancers — the great majority — should be offered the choice of deferring treatment, maybe permanently, in favor of being monitored for signs that their tumor has become more aggressive.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
A federal expert panel says that most prostate cancer these days should not be called cancer at all. Most of these tumors would never threaten the lives of the men who have them. So, the panel says, most men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer should be given the choice of postponing treatment. NPR's Richard Knox has the story.
RICHARD KNOX, BYLINE: It's kind of a startling pronouncement. The most common cancer in men may, most of the time, not really be cancer.
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