If you have prostate cancer, avoid surgery if at all possible. Heres why: There is no proof that it will help you live longer — and it can take away from your quality of life.
A recent study from Europe explains why. According to the researchers, there is some advantage to having surgery in the short term. But after about 10 years, the advantage completely disappears. They found that the death rate from cancer was somewhat lower with surgery. But the overall death rate was about the same.
What does that mean? If you are scared to death of the cancer, you can risk your sexual performance and urinary continence for a lower risk of death from the cancer. However, you will likely die of something else. (Perhaps from depression, anxiety, or stress from incontinence or a terrible sex life.)
For an equal risk of death after 10 years, I sure would choose my sex life and urinary function first. Plus, there are other ways to treat the cancer that wont ruin your quality of life. You can find these and many other articles on prostate cancer on my website.
Ref: J. Nat. Cancer Inst., 8-12-08.