After serum Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) concentration was
introduced as a screening test in prostate disease, prostate cancer has been
increasingly detected at an early stage and grade. PSA test leads to Prostate
Cancer (PCa) over diagnosis and overtreatment.
To overcome overtreatment, low risk PCa patients are enrolled
in AS in order to prevent overtreatment, delaying curative treatment according
to neoplasm progression. The AS protocols
were approved to delay radical treatment and spare treatment.
However AS can influence quality of life related to health
defined as “a physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease”. In fact AS consists in repeating rectal examination,
serial PSA evaluations and yearly repeated biopsies, that may be associated
with side effects: hematuria, haemospermia, infection, anxiety and Erectile
Dysfunction.
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