A long-term Canadian study has suggested that an "active surveillance" management of prostate cancer might just be a better approach to safely manage the condition, than getting a radical surgery treatment to remove the cancer, an approach which causes a number of unpleasant side effects.

"Active surveillance" means adopting a 'watch and wait' approach to prostate cancer, with frequent monitoring of the patient's PSA (prostate-specific antigen) levels and periodic biopsies to ensure that the cancer has not starting advancing rapidly.

The study revealed that men with "low-grade, slow-growing prostate cancer" when managed with active surveillance had a 10-year cancer related "actuarial" survival rate of over 97%, and an overall survival rate of nearly 80%. For the sake of research, 452 men with an average age of 70 were considered. Their prostate cancer had been detected via screening.

The study was conducted over a period of 14 years, with researchers giving the patients PSA testing and biopsies every three months, till the age of 80. Over the years, it was noted that 30% of the patients' cancers developed and they required regular treatment, whereas as many as 70% of them did not require any treatment.

The study's findings, which are being considered a considerable medical breakthrough in one of the most common forms of cancer, have been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.