I'm a newbie

[john-boy-92]

Hi guys! I'm John aged 72 and the latest thing to add to my medical history is an upcoming transperineal biopsy without a grid template. I have AF and in 2016 I had a stroke, and about twice a year there will be a one-off of blood in my urine so I'm monitored by the local health centre. My PSA jumped from 5.4 to 9.2 in four months so I was fast tracked for an MRI. Four days later the MRI scan confirmed that my pelvis, spine, and lymph nodes are clear. The prostate is smooth and at 55cc is calculated as slightly dense for that PSA figure. I don't have much in the way of symptoms and get in at least two 12km sessions a week on my indoor rowing machine.

[Magnus1964]

Sounds like you are in good shape. At this time ADT drugs may be the best option.

[john-boy-92 in reply to Magnus1964]

Thanks for your reply. I'm aware that ADT will affect muscle mass so I'm making sure that i get in sufficient exercise without over-reaching.

[Tall_Allen]

Good luck on the biopsy - why is it without a grid template? Let us know the outcome.

[john-boy-92 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thanks for that. The biopsy wll be with a local anaesthetic so I assume that the MRI has sufficient information to require just a few biopsies. The information sheet sent by the specialist cancer nurse is out of date even though it was published in 2017. It will take two weeks for the results as "there's no rush" acording to the specialist nurse.

[Tall_Allen in reply to john-boy-92]

What were your PIRADS scores in each area? I think they should sample from all areas, because there are false negatives for significant PC in mpMRIs.

[tucker_man in reply to john-boy-92]

I'm with Tall_Allen. I had the MRI with a PIRADS of 4. When they did the fusion biopsy, they took 7 cores from the PIRADS 4 area and found nothing. They also did the 12 core template at the same time and found cancer in 60% of one core that was not on the MRI. I would highly advise against only getting a biopsy in suspicious areas, they're already doing it, might as well be thorough.

[john-boy-92 in reply to tucker_man]

I've just had my Pi-RADS score of 2 with a PSA density of 0.18 and, no focal high-grade.