Passive Treatment in Cancer Patients

While proactivity and aggressiveness are often two words that are synonymous with cancer treatment, occasionally a lighter touch is needed. When it comes to certain slow-developing cancers like those involving the prostate, a passive treatment approach is sometimes used to wait out the development of cancer in situations where the attending physician is unsure whether active treatment is the best option for the long-term health of the patient.

Passive Treatment Philosophy

• Understand that passive treatment is not simply an issue of ignoring the problem and hoping that it goes away. Once you have been diagnosed with cancerous or pre-cancerous cells, your physician might choose to place you on a passive treatment program where the burdens of active treatment would outweigh the risks in light of all the factors at hand. For example, if you are already 70 and are diagnosed with low-grade, non-aggressive prostate cancer, you will be statistically more likely to die of old age before the cancer develops to any significant degree that would affect your life. Thus, there is no real need to subject you to the rigors of active treatment. Instead, your physician will likely adopt a passive approach, strictly and regularly monitoring your body so that the plan can be adjusted if circumstances change for the worse (i.e., if the tumor suddenly becomes more aggressive).

Passive Treatment Psychology

• Coping with the idea of passive treatment is probably the most difficult aspect, in that it is hard to sit back and do "nothing" while you know cancer is growing inside of your body. So it's important to grasp the rationale behind passive treatment to alleviate any potential psychological dissonance between your instincts and your recommended course of treatment. Understand that technically "cancerous" cells appear in your body on a fairly regular basis--anytime a cell undergoes an unexpected mutation or fails to die as programmed, it can be considered potentially cancerous. Thus, there is nothing inherently unnatural or overly dangerous about taking no active steps to combat your current problem. In fact, due to the regular medical attention you will be receiving as a result of the passive treatment protocol, you will be in a far better position to protect your own health than someone who has not been diagnosed with a mild cancer.