But a well-performed study shows that elderly men who do have their early stage (Stage I or Stage II) prostate cancer treated with prostatectomy or radiation therapy have a significant survival benefit over men who choose not to be treated.
Details
The research studied approximately 45,000 men aged 65 to 80 years old diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1991 and 1999. Patients with aggressive tumors and locally advanced prostate cancer were excluded from the study due to the high risk of progression.The SEER database where the patients were found had a 28 percent observation group and a 72 percent treatment group. The prostate cancer treatments options were prostatectomy or radiation therapy.
During the 12 years of data, 28 percent of the men died. Of the men in the observation group, 37 percent of the men were dead, but only 24 percent of the men treated for their prostate cancer had died.
Statistical analysis was used to account for any co-morbidities, and still found that getting treatment offered a significant survival advantage for the patients.
Analysis
This study was large, and used sound principles to reach the conclusion that for elderly men seem to live longer if they are treated for their prostate cancer.There is still a need for randomized trials to declare it a definitive advantage, and several trials are now in their concluding stages.
