Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer
If you have any questions, to schedule a consultation or if you need a second opinion, please contact us or call: 646-663-5515
Dr. Alex Shteynshlyuger is a board-certified urologist in NYC who specializes in treating men for prostate cancer.
Active Surveillance in New York City
At New York Urology Specialists we offer active surveillance as one of the management options for men with prostate cancer. Based on currently available literature we typically recommend this option to men with the lowest risk prostate cancer. When it comes to treatment of prostate cancer – New York Urology Specialists are a step ahead.
Active Surveillance is a management option for select men with low-risk prostate cancer. The rationale for active surveillance includes the fact that many low-risk prostate cancers grow very slowly and may never cause symptoms.
By deferring treatment to a later date when and if cancer becomes “higher risk” for causing symptoms, the patient may be able to avoid side effects and risks of treatment such as erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence and other risks of surgery and radiation therapy.
Studies demonstrate that when men are carefully selected for active surveillance, about 30-50% will proceed to have treatment over 5 years; about 50% will remain on active surveillance without significant change in risk classification of their cancer.
Active surveillance refers to careful monitoring of the disease (prostate cancer) in order to detect and offer timely treatment should cancer become more aggressive or put the patient at higher risk for causing symptoms or death.
The goal is to monitor prostate cancer and if it becomes more aggressive, catch it at a point where curative treatment can still be performed.
A typical protocol for active surveillance includes saturation biopsy at the start of the protocol to verify that the disease is indeed low-risk, PSA tests every 3-6 months and repeat prostate biopsy once a year. Additional measures such as dietary changes can compliment active surveillance.
Who is a Candidate for Active Surveillance?
Men with Gleason 6 prostate cancer with fewer than 2 cores with minimal involvement are good candidates for active surveillance.
If you have any questions, to schedule a consultation or if you need a second opinion, please contact us or call: 646-663-5515
We see patients from all parts of New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island), Long Island, Westchester and New Jersey as well as other parts of the USA. We also see international patients from Canada, Japan, South America, Russia, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean and other parts of the world.
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