Two Common Mistakes That Men Who Have Prostate Cancer Make

A lot of men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer make the same mistakes when having their disease treated. Here are a couple of the ones that they tend to make most often.

Not talking about new symptoms in between their appointments when they've opted for 'active surveillance'

If a man has a localised cancer on their prostate gland that is not expected to spread very quickly, then their medical team might advise them to opt for 'active surveillance'; this is where the man returns to their health clinic regularly and has tests to check the status of their cancer. If the testing procedures that are carried out at the clinic indicate that the man's cancer is stable, then no other treatments are given and that man will simply be asked to return again in a few months' time so that the same tests can be performed again.

One mistake that many men in this situation make is not going back to their clinic between the scheduled appointments when they notice the emergence of new symptoms (like inexplicable weight loss or changes in urinary function) that might mean that their cancer has evolved or worsened. If a man does this, they may end up delaying the critical treatments that they need to have to stabilise their cancer or put it into remission. This is why men who go down the 'active surveillance' route must not minimise or ignore new symptoms, but must instead go back to their clinic and report these new issues to their doctor straight away.

Instantly rejecting the idea of robot prostate surgery when they're told they need to have their prostate removed

Some men with prostate cancer who have been told that they need to have their prostate removed will be offered the option of having robot prostate surgery, if their clinic has the technology to perform this form of surgery and if the men in question are good candidates for this procedure. This surgery involves a robot, which is operated by a surgeon, being used to remove a man's prostate. Quite a few men who are offered this surgical option will reject it instantly. This is often because they do not feel comfortable with having robotic equipment performing an operation on them and do not realise that their surgeon will be in control of the robot at all times.

This can be a mistake, as the use of robotic technology can be beneficial in quite a lot of cases. It may, for example, minimise bleeding and lower the risk of the man's surgical incisions getting infected.

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