Prostate cancer operations are a waste of time, say boffins
Scientists found 99% of men who did not undergo radiotherapy were still alive a decade later
PROSTATE cancer operations are a waste of time for thousands of victims, say scientists.
Many are just as likely to survive if tumours are left instead of being cut out or hit with radiotherapy.
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The findings apply only to men whose cancer is detected early and has not spread — about half the 47,000 diagnosed each year, say experts.
Of these, 99 per cent of men who shunned treatment were alive ten years after diagnosis.
That was the same as for those choosing surgery, which can ruin sex lives by damaging nerves controlling erections.
Radiotherapy treatment can damage the bowel.
Teams at Oxford and Bristol universities, who tracked 1,600 British men, found tumours got no bigger in three out of four of the regularly monitored cases.
Oxford Professor Freddie Hamdy said: “Prostate cancer grows very slowly and very few men die of it when followed up over a period of ten years, only one per cent.
"This is considerably lower than anticipated.”
Dr Matthew Hobbs, from Prostate Cancer UK, said the results were “hugely positive”.
But he said they must be carefully explained so sufferers can “weigh up the positives and negatives of each option”.
Most, fearing their cancer will spread, currently choose surgery.