My friends husband's Dr. suspected PCa so referred him to a Urologist, who was going to do a biopsy.
Friend decided to go to UCSF and they did an Ultra Sound which found nothing. they also did a urinalysis, still waiting on results.
He has to go back July 23 for an MRI. Says there is an area they couldn't see?
Am I behind the times in protocol for testing for PCa.
Thanks in advance.
BOOGEE
Before many kinds of treatments a biopsy will have to be done to confirm Pca. This is particularly true for clinical trials.
The purpose of any test is to make decisions about treatments. If neither ultrasound nor MRI can find a tumor, there's little benefit to a biopsy. Without ultrasound or MRI to guide the biopsy, they would literally be shooting needles at random. Sure they would fire 12 or 18 needles across the whole gland, but they wouldn't have any reason to aim at a particular point.
There are risks associated with biopsies, as there are with every medical procedure. And risk with pretty much every choice we make.
I have had 3 of these tests over the last eleven years, and the first one was done without anesthesia. I do not recommend this. A twilight sleep kept me from feeling the pain and was worth it.
I am definitely with you on that one. An electric stapler where it shouldn't be introduced me to advanced prostate cancer.
Hi all,
My husband was DX 9 years ago from a biopsy and wasn't given the option for an MRI or Ultrasound.
I suppose every one's tolerance is different.
I was in the room with him during his biopsy without medication and he tolerated it well.
I guess we are lucky he didn't get an infection. but we didn't know anything else was available.
BOOGEE
Biopsies are not very painful. I have have six, both TRUS and TPUS, under local anesthesia.
If he has an MRI, and then a biopsy. make sure that the biopsy is both targeted and systemic. In other words, the areas sampled must include all the sectors of the prostate, plus extra cores for what looked suspicious on the MRI.
Just sampling the MRI areas has been shown to miss up to 18 percent of significant cancers.
I bypassed the offered TRUS for a 3T MRI with Dr. Busch (Chattanooga). He did an in-bore three needle biopsy which found a small G 4+5. A TRUS may have missed the very small G5 part of this thing.
A friend whose PSA was rising had two 12 needle biopsies performed at the hands of his urologist, both negative. PSA continued increasing so the same uro wanted to do a third many needle biopsy. My friend politely requested his records from the uro office, went to a VA hospital where a 3TMRI found a lesion on the front of his prostate where all those random needles failed. Passing several needles through the rectum wall into the prostate can result in serious infection and even sepsis. Proceed with caution.
A non-invasive approach is much safer and in the case of the prostate much better.
There is no substitute for a biopsy..It's the only way to know FOR SURE...
Fairwind,
That's what we were told 8 years ago.
Somehow thought things may have changed.
Why do you suppose men go through these other tests Ultra sound and MRI's 1st.
BOOGEE
Maybe it's because These tests and scans provide a handsome income for those who perform them. But before most insurance will pay for cancer treatment, you must PROVE you have cancer. That still means a biopsy in most cases..In many cases, a biopsy is cheaper than a scan..
Make sure to research getting a 3T MRI fusion guided biopsy. It is much more accurate than the one done in the Urologist's office, and less prone to possible infection.
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