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The average age of diagnosis is 67 and 95% of those men live as long as you would expect them to normally. It is certainly not cured, and treatment can be very

The average age of diagnosis is 67 and 95% of those men live as long as you would expect them to normally. It is certainly not cured, and treatment can be very disruptive and unpleasant, but it's definitely not "extremely deadly" with modern medical care.

samastur 1y ago
Not being extremely deadly is low bar since most of your life (with some luck) will be spent being old. I'd rather see my years being more than bearable.
- hwillis 1y ago
  You certainly will not live most of your life over the age of 67.
fridder 1y ago
Perhaps not but when it is aggressive, it is very deadly. They told my dad they were thinking he could have 10 years, he got three. Seems like when it stops responding to hormone suppression things can deteriorate quickly.
- hwillis 1y ago
  Even with Gleason score 10 (<1% of cases) most patients will survive more than 3 years. Median survival for score 9 (~10% of cases) is ~10 years. Unfortunately your father was an exception. Cancer is an awful, crippling disease and I'm sorry it took your father. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29976500/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29976500/
AstroBen 1y ago
> live as long as you would expect them to We also need to think about quality of life, which tends to go way down after you're diagnosed with one of these diseases Prevention and delay is significantly better than management or even curing
- hwillis 1y ago
  For the majority treatment is pretty minor, which is reflected in all-cause mortality. Pill-based chemo is much more common now and patients do not need to relocate and isolate as much. Cancer is still terrifying, and in almost all other types of cancer people vastly underestimate the life impact of "survival". Young people with localized Hodgkin lymphoma have a ~90% chance that they will never have a recurrence, but the chemo (which is extremely well tolerated!) can still regularly be life-altering. That said prostate cancer is most of the time not a big deal. Getting prostate cancer will still probably the most dangerous thing that ever happens to you (how many single events have a 5%+ mortality rate? besides birth) and should be treated incredibly seriously, but the odds are still good you'll be fine.
tim333 1y ago
It makes up for that in being common though. The most common cancer in male non smokers and fifth leading cause of death worldwide (presumably amongst males https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6497009/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6497009/)
- hwillis 1y ago
  Death statistics are not a good measure in this case. The large majority of prostate cancer is very slow growing and occurs late in life. The goal of treatment is not to cure- just to slow it down. Many of those deaths are nearly at the age they would have died anyway and had a full life because of the less-aggressive treatment. Most people will live another 15+ years. That stands in stark contrast to lung cancer, which has a median survival time of ~15 months. Pancreatic cancer usually kills you in less than a year. Colon cancer is better, but still only ~6 years. Leukemia and Lymphoma can occur in middle age or even in early childhood, and rob an entire lifetime.

samastur 1y ago

Not being extremely deadly is low bar since most of your life (with some luck) will be spent being old. I'd rather see my years being more than bearable.

hwillis 1y ago
You certainly will not live most of your life over the age of 67.

fridder 1y ago

Perhaps not but when it is aggressive, it is very deadly. They told my dad they were thinking he could have 10 years, he got three. Seems like when it stops responding to hormone suppression things can deteriorate quickly.

hwillis 1y ago
Even with Gleason score 10 (<1% of cases) most patients will survive more than 3 years. Median survival for score 9 (~10% of cases) is ~10 years. Unfortunately your father was an exception. Cancer is an awful, crippling disease and I'm sorry it took your father. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29976500/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29976500/

AstroBen 1y ago

> live as long as you would expect them to We also need to think about quality of life, which tends to go way down after you're diagnosed with one of these diseases Prevention and delay is significantly better than management or even curing

hwillis 1y ago
For the majority treatment is pretty minor, which is reflected in all-cause mortality. Pill-based chemo is much more common now and patients do not need to relocate and isolate as much. Cancer is still terrifying, and in almost all other types of cancer people vastly underestimate the life impact of "survival". Young people with localized Hodgkin lymphoma have a ~90% chance that they will never have a recurrence, but the chemo (which is extremely well tolerated!) can still regularly be life-altering. That said prostate cancer is most of the time not a big deal. Getting prostate cancer will still probably the most dangerous thing that ever happens to you (how many single events have a 5%+ mortality rate? besides birth) and should be treated incredibly seriously, but the odds are still good you'll be fine.

tim333 1y ago

It makes up for that in being common though. The most common cancer in male non smokers and fifth leading cause of death worldwide (presumably amongst males https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6497009/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6497009/)

hwillis 1y ago
Death statistics are not a good measure in this case. The large majority of prostate cancer is very slow growing and occurs late in life. The goal of treatment is not to cure- just to slow it down. Many of those deaths are nearly at the age they would have died anyway and had a full life because of the less-aggressive treatment. Most people will live another 15+ years. That stands in stark contrast to lung cancer, which has a median survival time of ~15 months. Pancreatic cancer usually kills you in less than a year. Colon cancer is better, but still only ~6 years. Leukemia and Lymphoma can occur in middle age or even in early childhood, and rob an entire lifetime.