(NewsNation) — Researchers in the United Kingdom say actively monitoring some forms of prostate cancer is a safe alternative to immediate surgery or radiation.
The decadelong study, which was published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine, followed about 1,600 men in the United Kingdom who agreed to be randomly assigned one of the following treatments: surgery, radiation or active monitoring. All of the patients’ cancer was confined to the prostate.
Those who were assigned to the monitoring group received regular blood tests. Some, however, would eventually need surgery or radiation.
Death from prostate cancer occurred in 3.1% of the active-monitoring group, 2.2% in the surgery group, and 2.9% in the radiation group, differences considered statistically insignificant.
Men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer shouldn’t panic or rush treatment decisions, lead author Dr. Freddie Hamdy of the University of Oxford told The Associated Press. Instead, they should “consider carefully the possible benefits and harms caused by the treatment options.”
“We have more ways now to help catch that the disease is progressing before it spreads,” Loeb said. In the U.S., about 60% of low-risk patients choose monitoring, now called active surveillance.
According to The American Cancer Society, prostate is the second most common cancer in men in the United States, with skin cancer being the most. About 34,700 deaths from prostate cancer are reported every year in the states.
About 13 out of 100 men in the U.S. will get prostate cancer during their lifetime, and about 2 to 3 men will die from prostate cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC recommends people without risk factors begin regular screenings beginning at the age of 45.
Black men in America are more likely to get prostate cancer than others and more than twice as likely to die from it, according to the CDC.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.