Prostate cancer is a slow-growing disease which can be deadly if left untreated.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – The patients with prostate cancer always have a hard time figuring out what they should choose between surgery and non-invasive treatment. Needless to say that most patients usually want to get rid of the tumor as soon as possible, which means that they would rather choose surgery, especially because their decision is influenced by misunderstanding and anxiety.
However, recent research suggests that heavy treatment and surgery might not represent the best strategy to deal with the disease. As such, the public health specialists underline that precautionary measures and constant monitoring can help more.
If the cancer is developed in an early stage, it means that it hasn’t spread to other organs. In this case, the experts would rather monitor the tumor and prevent its progression with effective treatments until it dies. This slow-growing illness is potentially deadly if it is discovered too late and left untreated.
What still puzzles the doctor is that they haven’t found yet the best method to make the difference between non-aggressive and aggressive cancers. So far, PSA blood tests have been regarded as the primary tool for prostate cancer screening. However, the experts have recently established that PSA blood tests can misdiagnose the disease and lead to more confusion.
Also, even biopsy has its own setbacks as recent studies reveal that the tissue samples are not the most accurate. According to the statistics, 35 percent of prostate cancers are missed after the first biopsy. It is worth mentioning that biopsies are guided by transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), but they are quite limited.
Another hotly-debated topic in the matter of tumor identification consists of image-guided biopsies because they use MRI technology. The health specialists aim to develop a special fusion biopsy which combines the MRI scans with traditional technologies.
Getting more accurate results will help doctors and patients weigh the advantages and disadvantages of choosing surgery. Another way of identifying prostate cancer are urine and blood tests. With the help of those, the experts look for cancer biomarkers.
Although it’s not clear whether liquid biopsies are 100 percent accurate, the good thing is that they are non-invasive, so the patient takes no risks. After the blood and urine samples are collected, the doctors use the 4kScore to measure the tumor’s aggressiveness.
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