ABSTRACT
Prostate cancer occurring in the elderly is usually a low grade, non-invasive disease with only a small volume of the prostate involved. In many of these elderly patients, this chance finding of prostate cancer, found during the routine management of benign prostatism, in clinical terms can normally be ignored. Such elderly patients can be kept under review and, if needed, any treatment for prostate cancer provided later. That follow-up can be minimal, usually by way of an annual clinical review along with measurement of PSA – a review easily delegated to a GP. In the elderly age group in question, the relatively innocuous nature of the tumour means, in practice, that the patient dies with, but not of, their prostatic cancer.
