Surveillance is not a viable and appropriate treatment option in the management of localized prostate cancer.

Results of conservatively treated localized prostate cancer are rather homogenous in different series if identical statistical methods are used- about 50% cancer-specific survival after 15 years, a rate much higher than that for men who undergo radical treatment. As the high mortality is accompanied by high costs, morbidity surveillance does not seem to be the optimal treatment in the average patient diagnosed with localized prostate cancer today.