Does Prostate Surgery And/Or Exposing Cancer To 'Air' Allow For The Prostate Cancer Spread?

March 16, 2009 -- Question: Does prostate surgery and/or exposing cancer to 'air' allow for the prostate cancer spread?

Answer: No, this is a myth that's been perpetuated for quite some time now. I don't know if anyone knows where it originated. Treatment of prostate cancer, or opening the prostate gland and exposing the prostate gland itself to air does not in any way increase the risk of spread of the prostate cancer. When doing the surgery, we don't actually cut into the prostate gland itself where the cancer lies. And there have been many studies that have demonstrated that treating the prostate cancer via surgery actually reduces the risk of spread of the prostate cancer to other areas of the body.