Giuliani Won't Disclose Treatment

NEW YORK (AP) â€” Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced a free prostate cancer screening program but again refused to say how his own cancer will be, or is being, treated. <br><br>Giuliani has refused to answer

Tuesday, June 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” Mayor Rudolph Giuliani announced a free prostate cancer screening program but again refused to say how his own cancer will be, or is being, treated.

Giuliani has refused to answer most questions about his health since dropping out of the U.S. Senate race against Hillary Rodham Clinton on May 19 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

On Monday, Giuliani said a mobile medical van would provide free prostate screening exams for one week. But he would not talk about his treatment.

``We'll discuss it when I'm ready to discuss it,'' he said. ``This is about my personal life.''

When Giuliani, 56, first disclosed that he had treatable prostate cancer on April 27, he said he would decide on his treatment option within two or three weeks. But he has since said the decision has proved far more difficult than he expected.

Giuliani has consulted physicians, including several at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, and has conferred with dozens of prostate cancer survivors, including former Sen. Bob Dole and N.Y. Yankees Manager Joe Torre.

Treatment options include surgery to remove the prostate or various forms of radiation treatment.

Cancer of the prostate, a gland involved in semen production, is the second most common type of cancer in American men, but early detection greatly increases the chance of successful treatment. About 179,300 were diagnosed with the disease in 1999. Overall, 92 percent of patients survive at least five years.

Giuliani's father died of prostate cancer in 1981 at age 73.