Named Book Reviews: Surviving Prostate Cancer Without Surgery

    Dr Hennenfent is a well-known name as a champion for all those who suffer with prostatitis or with prostate cancer. His tireless work during the last decades has helped to bring both diseases into the forefront of public awareness and media attention. In his book, SURIVIVING PROSTATE CANCER WITHOUT SURGERY, he calls attention to the surgeons' bias permeating the field of urology. Despite the paucity of double blind controlled studies to support the superiority of the surgical approach, a few published books written by influential surgeons dominate the field and are heavily biased toward surgical intervention. The author gives a balanced and critical review of the alternative therapies, watchful waiting, radiation or hormone therapies, that are just as affective, if not better than surgery. Unfortunately, these approaches lack glamour, media hype or financial rewards and therefore are woefully pushed aside.
     This book is a badly needed wake up call to all patients with prostate cancer. All options should be considered before choosing surgery. There could be permanent changes in the quality of life following an overly zealous surgical procedure for a slow growing cancer that, if left alone ultimately may not even be the cause of death.
      The book reads well. It's highly recommended for laymen and professionals alike. – Attila Toth, M.D., Associate Professor New York Presbyterian Hospital (January 14, 2005)

     Dr Hennenfent’s exposé is a watershed in the information available to those who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and to those wishing to improve their knowledge of the problem. Its content may prove critical to sufferers in deciding what treatment option to adopt, and what quality of life and life expectancy they may realize as a consequence.
     The book readily distinguishes from many others published before it because of
Dr Hennenfent’s standing as a doctor of medicine. His account is written from inside the medical profession and reflects an intimate knowledge of both good and bad in medical practice. He is also a Director of the prominent US organization, the Prostatitis Foundation, which actively promotes information about prostate infection and has an ongoing engagement with the US Government in identifying research opportunities that may improve the plight of sufferers in the US.
     The book bears an authority that has no parallel in earlier texts on this subject.

Dr Hennenfent’s frankness in informing readers without fear or favor of the serious concerns associated with radical prostatectomy is what readers have wanted and needed for decades. He reveals the absence of adequate peer scrutiny of high-risk and inappropriate treatment, which is all-too-often being routinely dispensed to patients by his urological colleagues. Elsewhere, he highlights the failure of the urology profession to initiate controlled studies utilizing the wealth of raw data that they have at their disposal from operations they have performed and other forms of intervention they have administered or coordinated. Such studies would offer great potential to advance the knowledge and understanding of the disease, and in turn offer scope for improved treatment outcomes for the current and future generations of patients.
    Good science does not always emerge on it’s own. In the case of the treatment of prostate cancer, it requires the determination of advocates like Dr Hennenfent and an informed and determined public to force the reform of attitudes and practice within the medical profession in general, and within the urology profession in particular. In an era of rapid communication technology, it can be expected that the message of this book will quickly spread to the wider global community, and in so doing will take the debate to a new level. Hopefully, it will also bring about that good science that is desperately needed by so many.
    The book is compelling reading not only for those who feel powerless and confused as they face the dilemma of what road to take for treatment, but also for those who know the ever-looming danger of prostate cancer and believe that being forewarned is to be forearmed.
— Mr. A S McCaffrey, Brisbane, Australia, (1 January 2005)

A lot of men are going to be very grateful to Dr. Bradley Hennenfent, MD, for his book, Surviving Prostate Cancer Without Surgery ($19.95, Roseville Books, Roseville, IL). The fact is that surgery often leaves men with sexual dysfunction for the rest of their lives, as well as incontinence. Moreover, radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer does not necessarily extend life. It is the author’s view that such surgery "is one of the biggest medical hoaxes of all time, because it is not based on science" and offers information on much better treatments that are available. — Bookviews by Alan Caruba, (December 15, 2004)
(http://www.bookviews.com/archive/bookviews-dec2004.htm)

Dr. Bradley Hennenfent … has written a book on prostate cancer that should be read by every male over the age of 40. … The author of this review [Mr. Winick] had his prostate removed in January 1996, when he had a PSA of 59.6. …. Three days after surgery he had a heart attack in the hospital. His wife was told by the attending physician to “call your children and make arrangements at a funeral home for tonight.” The surgeon didn’t check to see if he [Mr. Winick] had any heart problems prior to surgery. …the book could save your life. — Les Winick, The Zephyr (November 25th 2004.)