Editorial comment

摘要

The main issue with AS is the lack of reliable methods to identify patients with a higher chance of progression during followup. These authors report that black patients were 4 times more likely to experience progression than white patients even when controlling for disease characteristics. Progression-free survival was around 25% at 4 years. Although some population studies showed that black men with prostate cancer managed expectantly have overall survival similar to that of white men, this unacceptably high progression rate raises the question of whether AS should still be offered to black patients.