Dr. Daskivich Discusses Active Surveillance in Prostate Cancer

Timothy J. Daskivich, MD, assistant professor of surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discusses active surveillance for patients with prostate cancer.

Active surveillance is currently used as a first-line treatment approach for the majority of patients with low-risk prostate cancer. Still, rates of active surveillance use in the community are not as high as some may think. In order for the rate of active surveillance to raise, uptake has to be driven by patient education and physicians, Daskivich says. Personally, Daskivich says that he tells his patients that sometimes no therapy is the best therapy.

Although high-grade cancers should be treated aggressively and carefully, Daskivich says that the majority of patients in the United States who are diagnosed with low-grade cancers need to be monitored by active surveillance as the primary, preferred strategy. This is in order to maximize quality of life and minimize morbidity, he explains.