Doctor characteristics may influence prostate cancer treatment

Whether a man's low-risk prostate cancer gets treated with surveillance, surgery or another method may have more to do with his doctor than his health, according to a new study. Urologists who had been practicing for more years and those who treated more advanced cases of the disease were less likely to use a wait-and-see approach to manage low-risk prostate cancer, researchers found. "The physician a patient sees can influence their treatment fate," said Dr. Karen Hoffman. "Physicians play an important role in whether or not men with low-risk prostate cancer are managed with observation or treatment."