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Is surgery for prostate cancer considered an elective procedure?<\/p>\n
The Defense Department has described Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin\u2019s surgery to treat his prostate cancer on Dec. 22 as an \u201celective medical procedure.\u201d Austin, who went home the day after the procedure, later developed complications from the operation and was hospitalized on Jan. 1, Walter Reed National Military Center officials said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Austin underwent a procedure called a prostatectomy, Walter Reed officials said, in which surgeons remove some or all of the prostate gland.<\/p>\n
Aside from skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. The cancer is more likely to develop in older men, and the risk is higher in Black men, the ACS says. <\/p>\n
While \u201celective\u201d can make it sound like the operation wasn\u2019t necessary, the word instead refers to the timing of the surgery. <\/p>\n
Simply put, any surgery that\u2019s not needed very quickly to treat a medical emergency is considered an elective procedure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Operations to treat appendicitis or ruptured gallbladders, for example, are emergency procedures, said Dr. Edward Schaeffer, the director of the Polsky Urologic Cancer Institute and chair of urology at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.<\/p>\n
An elective procedure doesn\u2019t mean the surgery is optional, but rather that it can be scheduled in advance, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.<\/p>\n
With elective surgery, \u201cit doesn\u2019t matter if we do it today or six weeks from now,\u201d said Dr. Michael Stifelman, the chair of urology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. \u201cThe outcome will be the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s especially the case for surgery for prostate cancer, which Stifelman said is \u201ctruly an elective procedure.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cProstate cancer is such a slow-growing cancer in many, many cases,” Stifelman said. “You can easily wait four to six weeks before treating that patient for the cancer without any concern of changing the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health officials from Walter Reed Medical Center said that Austin’s prostate cancer was detected early and that “his prognosis is excellent.” <\/p>\n
Dr. Charles Ryan, the CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, said patients diagnosed early have several options.<\/p>\n
\u201cShould I do active surveillance, which means having repeat MRI scans followed with blood tests? Or should I have my prostate removed surgically? Or should I undergo a treatment with radiation and hormonal therapy or radiation alone?\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n
Because prostate cancer can grow very slowly, some doctors and patients may decide to withhold treatment and instead opt for either active surveillance or watchful waiting. Both involve monitoring the cancer with tests, with active surveillance being the more intensive version.<\/p>\n
Monitoring prostate cancer rather than treating it might be recommended if the cancer isn\u2019t causing symptoms, it is small and it hasn\u2019t spread beyond the prostate, or it is expected to grow slowly, according to the American Cancer Society.<\/p>\n
“The ideal candidate for that is somebody who\u2019s younger, in their 50s, 60s or early 70s, with a cancer that is very small,” said Dr. Quoc-Dien Trinh, co-director of the Dana-Farber\/Brigham and Women\u2019s Prostate Cancer Center in Boston. Such a patient might need periodic blood tests to check PSA levels, or additional biopsies and MRIs, Trinh said. <\/p>\n
Most men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer don\u2019t die from it, the American Cancer Society says.<\/p>\n
While Austin experienced complications from his surgery, experts said that, in general, the procedure is very safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the vast, vast majority of men who go through it, it\u2019s an uncomplicated procedure,\u201d Ryan said. \u201cBut, as with all surgical procedures, as with all cancer treatments, there are risks from time to time for complications that require further care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan said complications that would lead to a patient\u2019s being hospitalized, such as bleeding or an infection, are rare. \u201cBy rare, [I mean] less than 5% of cases,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n