Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Active surveillance (watchful waiting) for prostate cancer
By Mayo Clinic staffDuring active surveillance, no medical treatment is provided — meaning medications, radiation and surgery aren't used. You avoid the risks and side effects associated with other treatment options. Active surveillance may be a good choice if your cancer isn't causing signs and symptoms, is expected to grow very slowly, and is small and confined to one area of your prostate. For this treatment option, you need to be willing to assume the risk that you may possibly miss the window of opportunity for effective treatment.
With active surveillance, periodic prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests are used to check for signs the cancer is growing. Follow-up prostate biopsies also may be used to evaluate whether there are any changes. If there is a sudden rise in PSA levels or a biopsy reveals an increased grade or aggressiveness of the cancer, you may decide to change your treatment approach.
Active surveillance may be particularly appropriate if you're older or in poor health and your prostate cancer is very small and not very aggressive (low grade). Many men who choose active surveillance live out their normal life span without treatment and without the cancer spreading or causing other problems. However, active surveillance is usually a better choice for older men. Younger men are usually more likely to benefit from a more aggressive treatment approach. Active surveillance may not be the best option for you if you think you'll become overly anxious about your cancer and fear that you may be gambling with your life.
Active surveillance for prostate cancer: Pros and cons Treatment options for prostate cancer
