Veterans who have early-stage prostate cancer garner as much benefit from monitoring by their doctors as they would from prostate-removal surgery, a new study b the Department of Veterans Affairs concluded. "Our data show that observation provides equivalent length of life, with no difference in death from prostate cancer, and avoids the harms of early surgical treatment," said lead author Dr. Timothy Wilt, of the Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, and the University of Minnesota. He made the comments in an article that appeared in Jul 19 issues of the New England Journal of Medicine. For the study, Wilt and his VA colleagues treated 731 volunteer patients at agency medical centers across the nation. Some were observed; others received the surgery. Doctors observed the patients for 15 years.
