A study from the New England Journal of Medicine of 731 men with localized prostate cancer (cancer that has not spread elsewhere) found that mortality rates were similar among men who had surgery to remove the prostate compared to those who did not receive the surgery. The study, published in the July 19 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, tracked the men for 12 years. The results showed no significant overall difference between the two groups in all-cause mortality or mortality specifically linked to the cancer; absolute differences were less than 3%. The analysis suggests that surgery might reduce mortality among certain subgroups—those with higher PSA (prostate-specific antigen) values or higher-risk tumors.
An abstract of the article is available online. The full text is available in the Legislative Library.
