Analysis: With Prevention, Majority Survive Prostate Cancer

11/16/2015 - 09h42

In Brazil, there are 12 million men over age 50; two million of them will suffer from prostate cancer.

That statistic contradicts another, more encouraging one: of every 100 patients afflicted, only 8 percent will die from the disease. Conclusion: the majority of patients survive.

Some resist due to indolent tumors that do not progress. Many more, thanks to remedial medical attention, like surgery.

Recently, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (a group of specialists who analyze medical evidence) positioned itself against the administration of preventive prostate cancer exams in older men.

The Task Force argued that those programs identify many cases of indolent cancer, which would be unnecessarily treated.

I will admit that I, along with the majority of the urological community, do not really understand this recommendation.

It is clear that, in regard to the argument for preventing unnecessary interventions in 15 percent of patients, 60 percent of carriers with potentially curable tumors would be adversely affected and these would no longer be identified on time.

With prostate cancer, the treatments that cure can also compromise quality of life. Therefore, a physician will only exercise authority in his role as guardian of the body and soul if, upon arrival and departure, he takes into account not just the illness but the feelings of the patients.

That means opting for the most efficient therapy when it is a question of preserving life–or choosing the less aggressive treatment if the possible complications would be intolerable.

MIGUEL SROUGI, 68, is professor of Urology at the USP School of Medicine, completed his postgraduate studies in urology at Harvard University and is Council president of the Criança é Vida (Child is Life) Institute.

Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ

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