In my case, my initial diagnosis occurred in 1995 when I was 54 years of age. At that time, the only option for me was surgery by the best urologist-surgeon I could find. Since that time, over fifteen years have passed which have yielded volumes of clinical data concerning treatment successes and failures, tumor grades, Gleason scores, survival rates, side effects etc. For many men, “watchful waiting” is now an option to be seriously considered along with surgery. If you have been given a recent diagnosis of prostate cancer, two articles have recently been published in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Bulletin which you should share with your physician. The first article entitled “Prostate Cancer Study Provides More Data on Surgery versus Watchful Waiting” was published in the May 17th, 2011 issue (Volume 8, Number 10). The most recent entitled “Study Questions Benefit of Surgery versus Watchful Waiting in Some with Prostate Cancer” appeared as a feature article in the May 31st, 2011 issue (Volume 8, Number 11). While one cannot formulate a general rule for every man regarding the question of surgery versus “watchful waiting”, it may be useful to share this information with your physician / health provider before devising the best strategy for your individual prognosis and treatment plan, if any. As Dr. Julio Pow-Sang of the Moffitt Cancer Center at the University of South Florida stated, “the bottom line is that treatment of early-stage prostate cancer must be individualized.”