When a patient is diagnosed with prostate cancer, his disease is categorized into one of several clinical stages. Treatment is designed to either cure the disease or slow its progression depending on the staging of the individual patient's disease. Not all prostate cancers are equally aggressive. If a patient's prostate cancer is not advanced and is slow growing, he may not need immediate treatment. Based on the characteristics of a patient's cancer, physicians at Memorial Sloan-Kettering may recommend to the patient that they watch the cancer closely and defer treatment for the time being. Watchful waiting is an active and dynamic disease management option, and patients in this group are monitored closely by their doctors. If the disease becomes more active, physicians may recommend treatment.
