Doctors should stop calling early prostate changes 'cancer' to lessen burden on patients, experts urge By Kate Pickles Health Editor Published: 00:00 EDT, 1 October 2024 | Updated: 00:00 EDT, 1 October 2024 e-mail View comments Doctors should stop calling early changes to the prostate ' cancer ' to unburden patients, experts suggest. Low-grade prostate cancer, commonly known as GG1 among physicians, often does not spread or causes symptoms. As such, researchers questioned if 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 as GG1 among physicians, often does not spread or causes symptoms (file image) Researchers questioned if it should be renamed 'incidentaloma' to better reflect its severity (file image) They concluded that while common among older men, such changes should not be considered normal with concerns removing the word 'cancer' could lead men to be less vigilant in monitoring any progression.
Writing in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, lead researcher Matthew Cooperberg, from UC San Francisco, said the word 'cancer' was synonymous with death. Read More Revealed: Little-known sign of lung cancer in your ARM that you should never ignore He sai.