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A comment on 1 hr operation could cure prostate cancer by destroying tumors with electricity.

Re:1 hr operation could cure prostate cancer by destroying t... by laminarflow on Friday March 17, 2023 @12:45PM (#35199525)
In a past life, I worked in prostate cancer ("PCa") clinical research. To drive home the point about how large of an unmet need this is:

A) In addition to 1/6 men being diagnosed with PCa, an ~equally large percentage of men have undiagnosed cancer at the time of death, it just wasn't severe enough yet to be the thing that killed them. (1)

B) Because treatment carries a 50% risk of sexual and/or urinary dysfunction side effects, the standard of care in the US for PCa is literally to leave the cancer untreated and monitor it closely, until it develops into an aggressive cancer. At that point, we treat the entire prostate (the opposite of "focal" therapy referenced in this article) and all bets are off re: side effects. Also, often by that time, the cancer has spread outside of the prostate and is much more difficult to treat.

(1) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S246829422...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:1 hr operation could cure prostate cancer by destroying t... by fortran77 on Friday March 17, 2023 @01:04PM (#35199833)
My father died from metastasized prostate cancer. If/when I get it I won’t do “watchful waiting”. I’m going to get the most aggressive treatment possible.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:1 hr operation could cure prostate cancer by destroying t... by laminarflow on Friday March 17, 2023 @01:22PM (#35200062)
My condolences. Hopefully you never get it, and better treatments are available if you do.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:1 hr operation could cure prostate cancer by destroying t... by Panzer04 on Friday March 17, 2023 @06:08PM (#35203556)
Most current cancer treatment methods we have are basically sledgehammers with loads of collateral damage - it’s not surprising the preference is to leave it if it’s benign.
[ Parent | on HN ]