There
are several treatments prostate cancer patients can opt for
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One in three men with slow-growing prostate tumours are not getting the
best treatment - and could be risking their sex lives, experts warn.
Men with the
condition have a range of options available to them, including
"watchful waiting" where doctors monitor and give no active
treatment.
But other
options, such as surgery or radiotherapy, cause side effects.
Professor
Roger Kirby, head of urology at St George's Hospital, London, warned
patients often make uninformed choices.
The condition can take many years to develop, and men often do not need to
make quick decisions about which treatment to have.
Dr Kirby said
many men do often regret the option they chose, and doctors often feel
they should recommend the most radical treatment.
But he said
that many men could take a less drastic approach with fewer life-changing
side effects, such as impotence or urinary incontinence.
How to choose
In addition to
"watchful waiting", men can choose to keep their cancer under
control using hormone treatment.
Each treatment
has different benefits and potential side effects, so what is right for
each man depends on factors such as how aggressive the cancer is, how old
the patient is, and what is important to him.
Research has
shown that those men who take time to consider how treatments could affect
their quality of life tend to feel happier about the decisions they make.
Prostate
cancer is the most common cancer in men, affecting 27,000 in the UK each
year and killing 10,000.
Professor
Kirby said: "Currently, perhaps a third of men when confronted with
locally advanced prostate cancer needlessly risk losing their sex life by
making the wrong treatment choice."
He said there
were tools which could help doctors and patients decide which treatment is
best.
Professor
Kirby has been involved in developing the Vitality Index - a questionnaire
which ranks side effects and assesses a patient's willingness and ability
to cope with them.
Details were
recently presented to a meeting of the British Association of Urological
Surgeons.
He said:
"This new treatment aid could help men with prostate cancer and their
doctors arrive at the right treatment decisions, therefore helping to
maintain the sex lives and quality lives of patients and their
partners."
'Doubly
difficult'
Dr Chris
Hiley, head of policy and research at The Prostate Cancer Charity, said:
"Choosing a treatment at any stage of prostate cancer can be very
difficult.
"It
requires a close partnership between the doctor and the man with prostate
cancer, to make sure that there is the best fit between the effects on the
disease, and the side effects on each man's life.
"The
working of this partnership is doubly difficult when it is established at
a time when the man is anxious, vulnerable and in need of reassurance.
"As a
result of these difficulties, some men may not be offered choices, despite
the fact that treatments vary in their side effects. This has to change.
"Men
should be helped to make informed choices. It is their body, their health,
under discussion."
A Department
of Health spokeswoman said men with prostate cancer were being seen more
quickly and are receiving better care because of extra investment.
"We recognize
that patients need clear information to help them make informed decisions
about their treatment.
"That is
why we have set up a Coalition for Cancer Information to develop better
resources for patients and we are developing a National Prostate Cancer
website where patients and their families will be able to access clear and
accurate information."
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Men
should be helped to make informed choices 
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