Fear Factor in Early Prostate Cancer
Fear, Misunderstandings Affect Patients' Treatment Choices
Aug. 4, 2006 -- Men with early prostate cancer may choose treatments based partly on fear and misconceptions about their options.
So says a study in the journal Cancer.
Doctors should help patients set fear aside and weigh all the facts before choosing a treatment, write the researchers, who work at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.
Thomas Denberg, MD, PhD, and colleagues interviewed 20 men with newly diagnosed, early- stage prostate cancer. The men's cancer hadn't spread outside the prostate.
All of the men were urology outpatients at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Denver. They ranged in age from 54-80 years (average age: 65).
The men were all eligible for at least two of the following options:
The researchers interviewed the men before and after the patients chose their treatments.
The first interview happened within a week after the men first started talking to doctors about treatment options.
That interview, which lasted 60-90 minutes, covered the men's feelings about their prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment options.
Six to eight months later, the researchers followed up with a brief phone interview.
The researchers spotted three factors that seemed to be big influences on the men's treatment choices. All three factors had drawbacks.
The first factor was "profound fear and uncertainty, often corresponding with a desire to receive treatment as quickly as possible," write Denberg and colleagues.
Most patients (16 out of 20) didn't want to get a second opinion because they didn't want to waste time and add uncertainty to their situation, the researchers note.
Prostate cancerProstate cancer often grows slowly. Most of the patients in Denberg's study knew that. But knowing something in your brain doesn't always override fear.
"Even though most patients volunteered that prostate cancercancer is 'slow growing,' this abstract knowledge did little to dispel the vividly frightening, yet unlikely prospect of prostate cancer suddenly 'exploding,'" the researchers write.
Fear Factor in Early Prostate Cancer
Fear, Misunderstandings Affect Patients' Treatment Choices
Aug. 4, 2006 -- Men with early prostate cancer may choose treatments based partly on fear and misconceptions about their options.
So says a study in the journal Cancer.
Doctors should help patients set fear aside and weigh all the facts before choosing a treatment, write the researchers, who work at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.
Thomas Denberg, MD, PhD, and colleagues interviewed 20 men with newly diagnosed, early- stage prostate cancer. The men's cancer hadn't spread outside the prostate.
All of the men were urology outpatients at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Denver. They ranged in age from 54-80 years (average age: 65).
Treatment Options
The men were all eligible for at least two of the following options:
- Prostatectomy: surgery to remove the prostate
- External-beam radiation: radiation beamed at the tumor from outside the body
- Brachytherapy: implanting permanent radioactive "seeds" in the prostate
- Hormonal ablation: hormone therapy to slow the cancer's growth by curbing testosterone
- Cryotherapy: freezing cancer cells with liquid nitrogen
- Watchful waiting: monitoring the cancer without immediate medical treatment
The researchers interviewed the men before and after the patients chose their treatments.
The first interview happened within a week after the men first started talking to doctors about treatment options.
That interview, which lasted 60-90 minutes, covered the men's feelings about their prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment options.
Six to eight months later, the researchers followed up with a brief phone interview.
Fear Factor
The researchers spotted three factors that seemed to be big influences on the men's treatment choices. All three factors had drawbacks.
The first factor was "profound fear and uncertainty, often corresponding with a desire to receive treatment as quickly as possible," write Denberg and colleagues.
Most patients (16 out of 20) didn't want to get a second opinion because they didn't want to waste time and add uncertainty to their situation, the researchers note.
Prostate cancerProstate cancer often grows slowly. Most of the patients in Denberg's study knew that. But knowing something in your brain doesn't always override fear.
"Even though most patients volunteered that prostate cancercancer is 'slow growing,' this abstract knowledge did little to dispel the vividly frightening, yet unlikely prospect of prostate cancer suddenly 'exploding,'" the researchers write.