text: However, those individuals who choose to go with active therapy also face risks — surgery and radiation therapy can result in problems such as urinary incontinence, bowel difficulties, and even impotence.
  The author of the study, John T. Wei, MD, MS, an associate professor of urology at U of M, said, “Just as a failure to treat a potentially lethal prostate cancer is generally considered inappropriate from a quality-of-care perspective, overtreatment of lower-risk cancers is also not in the patient’s best interest. For some men with early stage prostate cancer, surgery or radiation therapy may result in substantial negative effects without a survival benefit.”