Almost twice as many men with prostate cancer opt for prostatectomy over radiotherapy and very few consult a radiologist before surgery, Australian researchers say.

The findings underline the need for more education for doctors and patients, given both treatments have similar survival rates but morbidity is higher for surgery, the University of NSW authors say. 

The researchers looked at data from more than 4000 NSW men participating in the 45 and Up study, who were aged 45 years and over and diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2006‒2013.

Overall, 40% underwent radical prostatectomy as their first treatment, 22% had external beam radiotherapy, 5% brachytherapy, 2% chemotherapy, 9% androgen deprivation therapy alone and 21% had no active treatment.