Watchful Waiting

The terms ‘active surveillance’ and ‘watchful waiting’ are often used interchangeably, but it is important to know the differences between the two. Watchful waiting involves having no treatment for your prostate cancer. Rather than treating the prostate cancer, your physician will wait until you start having symptoms and treat those, usually with medication. The goal of watchful waiting is not to cure your prostate cancer, but treat your symptoms to make you feel better. With active surveillance, you will monitor the disease closely and have treatment options presented to you when the disease begins to progress.