title: Point: the value of predicting life expectancy in men with clinically localized prostate cancer.
abstract: The prediction of life expectancy in prostate cancer screening and treatment is a controversial topic that evokes various opinions regarding its validity. The authors believe incorporating life expectancy prediction into the treatment algorithms for prostate cancer is important. Using a combination of clinical judgment and specific predictive tools, physicians can estimate the life expectancy of patients with prostate cancer. These estimates can then be used to help guide treatment discussion. Estimating life expectancy benefits older men in whom decisions regarding the best form of treatment may be difficult.
authors: Department of Surgery, Division of Urology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294, USA.
authors: Douglass B
authors: DB
authors: Clayton
authors: Donald A
authors: DA
authors: Urban
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D015996:Survival Rate