Men with prostate cancer can live long lives without surgery

Men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer will probably live a full and long life without needing surgery, a new study has found.

Only those who have very aggressive cancers should consider a radical prostatectomy, say researchers from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Those diagnosed with the cancer can expect to live for at least a further 15 years, especially if the cancer is slow-growing, without needing to have any treatment.

In a study of 12,677 men who had a radical prostatectomy, most lived for 15 years or longer afterwards.

(Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2009: published online July 27, 2009, DOI:10.1200/JCO.2008.18.2501).