This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 24 Jul 2008, by ken zhang.
The Scandinavian study
Over a ten-year period, 695 Swedish men aged 60 to 70 with early prostate cancer were enrolled. They were allocated randomly to receive surgery, or to undergo 'watchful waiting'. The watchful-waiting group patients received no immediate treatment, but if symptoms occurred that indicated the tumor was enlarging (e.g. a weak urinary stream), this was treated by surgery or irradiation.
After an average follow-up period of 6.2 years, 16 (4.6%) of the 347 men who originally had surgery had died of prostate cancer, compared with 31 (8.9%) of the 348 men who were allocated to watchful waiting. In those who had surgery, the tumor had spread elsewhere in the body (metastases) in 35 men (10.1%), compared with 54 (15.5%) in the watchful-waiting group.
The overall death rate from all causes was not significantly different in the two groups. A total of 53 men (15.3%) who had surgery died, compared to 62 men (17.8%) in the watchful-waiting group. The study was probably not large enough to be able to show a significant difference in this respect.
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.