guide to decide

Your options

• Use active surveillance. This means following a schedule of regular checkups and tests.

• Have surgery or radiation instead of using active surveillance.

This decision aid is for men who have low-risk localized prostate cancer and for some men who have medium-risk localized prostate cancer. If you have localized prostate cancer and already know that active surveillance is not an option for you, you may need to decide between surgery or radiation.

Key points to remember

• With active surveillance, you can choose to wait to start treatment, such as surgery or radiation. Some men will never need surgery or radiation. And others will be able to delay having surgery or radiation until tests show that their cancer is growing.

• Surgery or radiation may be used to remove or destroy the cancer right away. But in many cases, the cancer would never have caused you problems. And having these treatments may not cure the cancer.

• Surgery and radiation can cause serious side effects, such as erection, bladder, and bowel problems. And these can have a big impact on your quality of life.

• There is a chance that your prostate cancer may grow during active surveillance. But you will have frequent checkups and tests to watch for any changes. And if the cancer grows, it can still be successfully treated.

• Men with low-risk localized prostate cancer and some men with medium-risk localized prostate cancer have a very low risk of dying from prostate cancer. This is true no matter what approach they choose.