5-alpha reductase inhibitors in patients on active surveillance: do the benefits outweigh the risk?

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a slow, progressive disease. Prostate specific antigen testing, screening, and aggressive case identification has made PCa the most frequently diagnosed cancer. Concerns regarding overdiagnosis and overtreatment flourish on a large scale. In order to avoid overtreatment for those in whom therapeutic intervention is not required, active surveillance for eligible patients with the use of 5-alpha reductase can be considered a safe and a promising approach to delay the progression of the disease with minimal side effects.