THE ATTEMPT TO SHED LIGHT ON PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT
Another attempt to shed light on prostate cancer treatment is the national PIVOT (Prostate cancer Intervention vs. Observation Trial) study, led by a Minnesota internist and a Seattle urologist and funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Cancer Institute. Its aim is to find out which works better for clinically localized prostate cancer—radical prostatectomy with early intervention (such as radiation therapy) in case the cancer comes back, or watchful waiting, with treatment for symptoms if the cancer spreads.
“We’re not looking at radiation as a primary treatment,” comments the internist who’s heading the study, “because studies indicate that radiation is at least not better than radical prostatectomy.” Instead, the PIVOT study will “compare watchful waiting with the most frequently recommended, and probably the best, of the early intervention approaches—radical prostatectomy.”
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