[Radical treatment of localized prostatic cancer?]

Prostatic carcinoma, if detected early, may be cured by radical surgery or radiotherapy. In Norway, only a minority of patients (about 5%) received this treatment in 1988. However, diagnosis of possibly localised cancer was made in 31% of patients, most of whom were probably only observed and not treated unless progression occurred. This conservative attitude is representative of European practice but conflicts with the current approach in the United States. In view of the possible complications of such treatment there is no material to prove that radical treatment would benefit the populations as a whole. Nor has this been disproved. Such treatment should only be considered on the basis of strict criteria and for strongly motivated patients, who should be fully informed of the possibilities of complications and of being cured, and also about alternative treatment, including watchful waiting.