Doctors should stop calling early prostate changes ‘cancer’ to reduce the burden on patients, experts urge

Doctors should stop calling early changes in the prostate ‘cancer’ to ease the burden on patients, experts suggest.

Low-grade prostate cancer, commonly known among doctors as GG1, often does not spread or cause symptoms.

As such, researchers wondered whether it should be renamed “incidentaloma” to better reflect its severity.

They suggest this could remove some of the “psychological burden of a cancer diagnosis for patients.”

Researchers from universities including Harvard and the University of California met with participants from multiple fields, including patient advocacy.

Low-grade prostate cancer, commonly known among doctors as GG1, often does not spread or cause symptoms (file image)

Researchers wondered whether ‘incidentaloma’ should be renamed to better reflect its severity (file image)

They concluded that while such changes are common in older men, they should not be considered normal, raising concerns that removing the word “cancer” could lead men to be less vigilant in monitoring any progression.

Lead researcher Matthew Cooperberg of UC San Francisco wrote in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that the word “cancer” was synonymous with death.

He said: ‘We are now finding exceptionally common cellular changes in the prostate that in some cases predict the development of aggressive cancer, but in most cases do not.

“We absolutely need to keep an eye on these abnormalities regardless of how we label them, but patients should not be saddled with a cancer diagnosis if what we see has no potential to spread or kill.”

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and the second deadliest, responsible for around 12,000 deaths every year in Britain.

Improvements in prostate cancer diagnosis, such as MRIs and targeted biopsies, mean men suffer less harm than before, reinforcing calls for a national screening program.

Prostate Cancer UK said these improvements mean men with slow-growing cancer can have confidence in active surveillance, such as regular scans and blood tests to monitor any disease progression.

Amy Rylance, deputy director of health improvement, said there were arguments “for and against” its reclassification.

She said: ‘It could help reduce anxiety, but in a cash-strapped NHS it could also mean that surveillance is no longer prioritized – both by men and the system – increasing the risk that if the cancer develops, it can be missed.

‘The good news is that UK data shows that more than 95 per cent of men diagnosed with these very low-risk cancers opted for active surveillance, avoiding unnecessary treatments.’