DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My father, 71, was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer last month. He is worried about the side effects of surgery and radiation, so he has instead decided to wait and see if the cancer progresses. His doctor agrees that he does not need to have treatment anytime soon. Should I have him get a second opinion? ANSWER: Active surveillance is a reasonable approach for men with low-risk prostate cancer. However, prostate cancer has a wide range of possible treatment options. It is important to consider all the options before making a decision. Obtaining a second opinion often can be quite useful when deciding on the best approach. Prostate cancer is common, particularly in older men, and it often grows slowly. Because of that, many men with prostate cancer actually die due to some other cause. About 1 in 6 American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives, but only about 1 in 30 actually dies from the disease. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between the forms of prostate cancer that may not require treatment right away and those that may be aggressive and need to be addressed more quickly.
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DEAR MAYO CLINIC: What are the best ways to treat a toddler who has hand-foot-and-mouth disease? Does she need to be seen by a doctor? Does having it once mean she will not get it again? ANSWER: Hand-foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a virus. It usually leads to mild illness and discomfort that does not require any specific treatment. You should contact your doctor, however, if your child’s symptoms are persistent or if her symptoms get worse. Although they do build up immunity to it over time, children can get hand-foot-and-mouth disease more than once. Hand-foot-and-mouth disease is common in young children, most often in kids younger than 5. Children who go to child care centers are at higher risk for the condition than others because hand-foot-and-mouth disease spreads by person-to-person contact. Hand-food-and-mouth disease is most often caused by a coxsackievirus. A fever is usually the first sign of the illness. Other symptoms appear within a few days. They include a sore throat and blisters or sores on the tongue, gums, back of the throat and inside of the cheeks. Blister-like lesions that are red to gray-white usually appear on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. In some cases, a red rash also may develop on the thighs, buttocks and groin. Children affected by this disorder may have a general feeling of illness and lose their appetite.
