Mindfulness Meditation Can Help Cope With Active Surveillance Anxiety in Prostate Cancer

Men with prostate cancer are more prone to stress and anxiety due to active surveillance. A new study from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine showed that mindfulness meditation can help overcome active surveillance anxiety.

The anxiety and uncertainty that men who choose active surveillance experience when diagnosed with prostate cancer causes one in four to receive definitive therapies within one to three years, even when there is no sign of tumor progression.

Active Surveillance Model Tested Against Low-Risk Prostate Cancer
Active surveillance (AS) is the practice of closely monitoring slow, indolent forms of prostate cancer with prostate-specific antigen blood tests and biopsy.

‘Anxiety causes one in four men with prostate cancer to drop out of active surveillance. But mindfulness meditation can help ease these fears and uncertainties. ’

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Health psychologist David Victorson, the principal investigator of the study and an associate professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, researches the emotional stress of active surveillance and how mindfulness training helps alleviate the anxiety.

Mindfulness meditation is a well-known contemplative awareness practice dating back some 2,500 years. It is a form of meditation designed to develop the skill of paying attention to our inner and outer experiences with acceptance, patience and compassion.

"It's very understandable that some men will feel concerned with the knowledge that they indeed have prostate cancer but are asked to NOT do anything to remove it," Victorson said. "For many men this can create a great deal of inner turmoil. This turmoil can build up over time and eventually lead to men seeking surgical intervention when it may not ultimately be necessary."

Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer may Have Risk of Metastases
Active surveillance is an approach to manage low and low-intermediate risk prostate cancer, which is designed to reduce harm from unnecessary treatment.

Victorson and his Northwestern team now are partnering with other academic medical institutions to conduct a five-year multi-site controlled trial where men and their spouses will be randomized to eight weeks of intensive mindfulness meditation training or an eight-week control group.

"I believe we have an opportunity to investigate and equip men with additional tools above and beyond surgical intervention that can help them manage cancer-related uncertainty intolerance," Victorson said.

Most Prostate Cancer Specialists Don't Recommend Active Surveillance for Their Patients
Specialists who treat prostate cancer agree that active surveillance is an effective option — yet most doctors don't recommend it when appropriate for their own patients.

Source-Eurekalert

In African-Americans, Active Surveillance may Miss Aggressive Prostate Cancer
African-Americans diagnosed with very-low-risk prostate cancers are much more likely than white men to actually have aggressive disease that goes unrecognized with current diagnostic approaches, suggests a Johns Hopkins study of more than 1,800 men ages 52 to 62.