Quality of Life after Radical Prostatectomy or Watchful Waiting

We evaluated symptoms and self-assessments of quality of life in men with localized prostate cancer who participated in a randomized comparison between radical prostatectomy and watchful waiting.

Between 1989 and 1999, a group of Swedish urologists randomly assigned men with localized prostate cancer to radical prostatectomy or watchful waiting. In this follow-up study, we obtained information from 326 of 376 eligible men (87 percent) concerning certain symptoms, symptom-induced distress, well-being, and the subjective assessment of quality of life by means of a mailed questionnaire.