As announced by Endocare, Inc., a large study published in the December 13, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) confirms that men with early prostate cancer should seriously consider all prostate cancer treatment options before choosing "watchful waiting" as a disease management approach.

"Watchful waiting" is a concept that suggests patients can wait to see how their disease progresses before undergoing any curative treatments such as surgery or radiation.

According to Endocare President, Chairman and CEO Craig T. Davenport:

"This study offers further scientific evidence that 'watchful waiting' may not be the best option for many patients, particularly when there are effective, minimally invasive treatments like cryoablation available. Based on the results of the study, 'watchful waiting' patients should consider some kind of treatment.

We believe cryoablation is an excellent option for many patients given its proven, long-term cancer control rate, low morbidity, and typically fast recovery time. Additionally, we believe cryoablation is a particularly good option for 'watchful waiting' patients who are not able to tolerate surgery or radiation, or for men with very small amounts of cancer in their prostate."

Cryoablation involves the non-surgical freezing and destroying of the cancerous tumors using an Endocare Cryocare® System.

Endocare is an innovative medical device company focused on the development of minimally invasive technologies for tissue and tumor ablation and specializing in prostate cancer treatment.

Read the full press release from Endocare (a pdf file).