Current treatment options in oncology
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Curr Treat Options Oncol · Mar 2013
ReviewActive surveillance for prostate cancer: overview and update.
Low-risk prostate cancer: How I would treat it? Overtreatment of many conditions diagnosed by screening has become increasingly recognized as a contemporary malady associated with modern medicine's efforts at earlier detection. The diagnosis of low-grade prostate cancer clearly qualifies as an example of potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment. Active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer is an attempt to reduce the overtreatment of the disease. ⋯ Low-risk prostate cancer is more accurately viewed as one of several risk factors for the patient harboring higher-grade disease, rather than a life-threatening condition. This approach is similar to that taken historically for so-called precancerous conditions, such as PIN or ASAP, where patients were managed with close follow-up but without radical intervention unless clear evidence of more aggressive disease is identified. Active surveillance is increasingly viewed as the management of choice for patients with very low-risk (low-grade, low-volume prostate cancer) and low-risk (low-grade but higher volume) disease.