Thousands of patients ‘having unnecessary prostate operations’

The Institute for Cancer Research has said that thousands of men may be going through unnecessary prostate cancer operations because many do not know whether theirs is a high or low-risk type of cancer.

It stated that that many men risk incontinence or impotence by having prostate surgery to remove cancer even though there is no test to find out what level of risk their cancer has.

Dr Chris Parker, a researcher for the institute, said: “Right now it is fairly clear that there are thousands of men in the UK every year having treatment which in a sense they don’t need.”

“If men are aware of our results then I think they will think twice about having treatment. They will be more likely to choose active surveillance rather than surgery,” he added.

According to the North Hampshire Hospitals Trust, more men die with prostate cancer than because of it. It states that the prostates of 75 per cent of men aged 80 contain at least some cancerous cells and often treatment should be judged on the type of cancer cells and the life expectancy of the patient.

For example, it says that for men under 75-years-old with more than ten years of average life expectancy left, active treatment is often worthwhile.

For men aged over 75, when the average life expectancy is less than 10 years, it says that “watchful waiting” may be the best choice the tumour is low-grade, as the benefits of a prostate operation could be outweighed by the possible damage to the patient’s quality of life.

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