As much as half of all diagnosed prostate cancer is low risk, meaning it's nonlethal and growing very slowly, if at all, and may be something you can live with, depending on your age and health. Yet most men, once they hear they have prostate cancer, want to get rid of it and often decide on an aggressive treatment such as surgery or radiation. As a result, they risk some potentially nasty side effects -- i.e., varying degrees of incontinence and impotence. Unfortunately, there is no single test that can clearly differentiate between low risk and high risk or aggressive prostate cancer.
In deciding what you should do if diagnosed with prostate cancer, here is criteria that the Brady Urological Institute at John Hopkins Medicine has published on its website, in an article entitled "Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer: What A Man Needs to Know Before Deciding on Treatment."
