Dr. Tewari, of the Dept. of Urology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, discusses the fact that surgery and immediate treatment for prostate cancer patients is not the optimal choice for certain prostate cancer patients.

I think watchful waiting is a viable option for a select group of patients. The concept is attractive because sometimes prostate cancer is not very aggressive, and if it is not very aggressive and that patient doesn't have that kind of a life expectancy because of his age, or his other medical problems, then he's likely to die of other causes than prostate cancer. The key with watchful waiting is not waiting, it's watchful intervention. What we need to do is, repeat the prostate biopsy in a 3-6 month period and monitor the cancer so that we know the cancer is not progressing very rapidly. And if it is then we'll need to intervene, so it's watchful intervention not watchful waiting. Sow e try to find the best time to intervene in a patient who would technically benefit from an aggressive treatment such as radiation treatment or surgery.