A new research says that it might be a better option to wait and watch if the tumors are growing in early stage of prostate cancer in older patients rather than starting with some intensive treatment which might not be useful at all.

A study also showed that the number of prostate cancer patients dying after being diagnosed has gone down by 60 percent between 1992 and 2002 as compared to the patients diagnosed in 1970s and 1980s.

Out of the total diagnosed cases of prostate cancer only 10 percent are managed by doctors where they closely watch the patients and delay treatment until the symptoms demand it.

It is the second most common cancer in men globally after lung cancer, annually killing 254,000 men. In some countries it is feared to be over diagnosed and hence treated more aggressively than needed.

All treatments that follow after the patient is diagnosed for prostate cancer, like surgery, radiation or hormone therapy, can cause harm and lead to impotence and incontinence in one third of the patients.

Researchers studied 14,500 men 65 or older when they were diagnosed with prostate cancer at a very early stage between the years 1992 and 2002. They were cared for without any treatment or surgery for 6 months after being diagnosed.

After 10 years they found that 6 percent had died of the dreaded cancer, which is a much lesser number than in results of earlier studies from 1949-1992. The improved diagnosis and survival rates can be attributed to the blood test that looks for a prostate specific antigen (PSA) which can detect cancer at an early stage thereby increasing the expected age.