What Every Man Should Know About Prostate Cancer

• After receiving a diagnosis of prostate cancer, it’s natural that your first instinct would be to begin treatment immediately. The idea of cancer growing in your body is, understandably, upsetting for many patients. But, prostate cancer treatments like surgery or radiation therapy can come with a number of side effects, such as urinary incontinence or erectile dysfunction.

  For certain men, there’s another option called active surveillance, which postpones treatment or avoids it altogether, in favor of monitoring the cancer through testing and biopsies. In active surveillance, the cancer is treated only if it’s growing or if it progresses to a more aggressive stage.

  Active surveillance is appropriate for men:

  • With low-risk, slow-growing prostate cancer
  • Whose cancer is not causing any symptoms
  • With cancer contained just in the prostate

  Alexander Kutikov, MD, FACS, Division Chief of Urology and Urologic Oncology at Fox Chase, talks about how to decide if active surveillance is for you:

   

  Learn more about prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment options at Fox Chase.