Experts suggest that doctors should stop calling early changes in the prostate “cancer” to relieve patients.
Low-grade prostate cancer, commonly known as GG1 among doctors, often does not spread or cause symptoms.
As such, researchers questioned whether the name should be changed to “incidentaloma” to better reflect its severity.
They suggest this could remove some of the “psychological burden that a cancer diagnosis places on 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 questioned whether the name should be changed to ‘incidentaloma’ to better reflect its severity (file image)
They concluded that, while common among older men, these changes should not be considered normal, with concerns that removing the word “cancer” could lead men to be less vigilant in monitoring any progression.
In an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, lead researcher Matthew Cooperberg of the University of California, San Francisco, said the word “cancer” was synonymous with death.
He said: “We are now finding exceptionally common cellular changes in the prostate that in some cases portend the development of an aggressive cancer, but in the majority do not.
“We absolutely need to monitor these abnormalities no matter how we label them, but patients should not be burdened with a cancer diagnosis if what we see has no ability to spread or kill.”
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and the second deadliest, responsible for around 12,000 deaths a year in the UK.
Improvements in prostate cancer diagnosis, such as MRI scans and targeted biopsies, mean men are suffering less harm than before, reinforcing calls for a national screening programme.
Prostate Cancer UK said these improvements mean men with slow-growing cancer can feel confident in taking active surveillance, such as regular scans and blood tests to detect any progression of the disease.
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 deprioritised, both by men and by the system, increasing the risk that, if the cancer progresses , can be overlooked.”
“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.”