I Want My Prostate Out!
BY MARK SCHOLZ, MD & LIZ GRAVES For many men, surgery seems like the best option: “A quick operation and the problem will be gone.” While this thinking may apply …
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The power of a single word—CANCER—can’t be underestimated. Its deadliness is famous. Often patients have previous experiences with cancer striking a friend or family member. One of the biggest challenges prostate cancer specialists face is undoing what patients think they already “know” about cancer. Patients assume it’s a death sentence and rush into the first treatment offered while failing to realize that a single additional modifying word—PROSTATE—changes everything. Generally speaking, the worst type of prostate cancer is better than the best type of any other cancer. For example, the average survival of relapsed pancreas cancer is four months. The average for relapsed prostate cancer is thirteen years.
What we call prostate cancer is actually a constellation of illnesses that behave and respond to treatment quite differently. Fortunately, technology can now distinguish between the good and the bad forms of prostate cancer. Profiling is a much maligned word. However, profiling prostate cancer by into different “types” enables men to receive personalized treatment that is appropriate to their individual situation.