Doctors are debating whether low-risk prostate cancers should no longer be called cancer, with a group of international experts suggesting many cases are “a normal aspect of ageing”.
A new paper, co-authored by doctors from countries including Australia, suggests stripping the emotive word “cancer” from low-grade prostate cancer diagnoses would reduce anxiety and unnecessary treatment.
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They said renaming an early-stage prostate cancer known as grade group 1 (GG1) as “acinar neoplasm” – which refers to an abnormal growth in a gland – had the broadest support.
The Journal of the National Cancer Institute paper said that “many believe public health would on balance greatly improve if GG1 – along with lesions in other organs with no capacity to cause symptoms or threaten life – were labelled something other than ‘cancer’“.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly identified cancer in Australia, with an estimated 26,400 men diagnosed with the disease last year. About 3900 Australians die from the disease each year.
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