Prostate cancer men have time for experts

BOSTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Men with prostate cancer can take the time to learn about the disease and treatment and consult with experts before having surgery, a U.S. newsletter says.

Men can take the time they need to make their decisions, reports the February issue of Harvard Men's Health Watch.

"One study evaluated men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer who elected to have surgery. The men were divided into groups based on the amount of time that had elapsed between their diagnostic biopsies and their operations," the newsletter says in a statement.

"The shortest period was 15 days, and the longest was 520 days. There was no correlation between the interval between biopsy and surgery and the risk of recurrence," the study finds.

Prostate cancer is different from most cancers because it's usually slow-growing and even aggressive prostate cancer cells take longer to multiply compared with most other cancers, the newsletter says.

In another study, the scientists identified high-risk patients and even among these men, there was no link between delay and recurrence, the Health Watch says.