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Newly Diagnosed

Be Empowered! Know Your Options...

Choosing treatment for prostate cancer is difficult. Comparing the treatment options involves learning new terminology at the very time you are going through the emotional shock of a cancer diagnosis.

Essential Concepts—You Should Memorize Them

  • Don’t rush the treatment selection process or allow other to rush you.

  • You take the lead to learn about the disease and to make treatment decisions.

  • Obtain copies of all Medical Records, understand them; have a chronological log.

  • Know the extent of disease—the Shade—by staging with scans and blood tests.

  • Seek medical opinions from doctors who specialize in prostate cancer.

  • Consider success rates and side-effects by considering that:

    • The impact of treatment on quality-of-life starts immediately

    • The impact of treatment on survival will be delayed for many years.

  • Be wary of supposed professionals (or lay people) with rigid, simplistic advice.

  • Rely on optimistic friends, medical professionals, and Support Groups.

Prostate cancer behaves very differently from one man to the next. Not all forms of prostate cancer are life-threatening. For a better understanding of the many and varied faces of prostate cancer see: What’s Your Shade?

The PCRI Decision Aide is a roadmap to empower you to locate and use information that is pertinent to your situation.

If you feel you need a basic tutorial on prostate cancer, we suggest, Knowing Your Options: A Decision Aid for Men With Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer. It provides information about prostate anatomy, clinically localized prostate cancer and an introduction to treatment options, including the choice to not begin treatment immediately.

The PCRI exists to educate patients, families and physicians by providing current information on diagnosis, staging, treatments and resources. To this end PCRI provides a Helpline, Publications, Conferences and a social network, the Blue Community.

THE PROSTATE CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE (PCRI) is a registered nonprofit organization, Tax ID 95-4617875. Your contributions will help continue our services. Donate Now