Not All Prostate Biopsies Are Alike!

[d55eng]

I had my 4th prostate biopsy recently to pleasantly discover it wasn't painful, at all, perhaps a little uncomfortable at times, but not painful like my previous 3 biopsies! I have always considered the early part of the biopsy process when the lidocaine was injected as "blindingly painful". But for whatever reason, I didn't feel the lidocaine injections at all this time! I've always felt a bit inadequate and not tough enough when other participants of this site would remark that the biopsy process isn't painful and not that big of a deal. Well, this time I would totally agree!

[Tall_Allen]

The first biopsy I had, the urologist shot blindly and I almost fainted from the pain. The second biopsy I was given general anesthesia and was groggy for a day after. The third, the urologist used ultrasound to find the pelvic nerve plexus. She also went slowly on the way in - I didn't feel a thing and was awake and alert throughout.

[Nusch in reply to Tall_Allen]

My first was more like your first. After the biopsy I could hardly walk straight up and even worse, I found‘t urinate for a few hours and my bladder grew bigger and bigger. This wasn’t fun. So it’s important to make the right decisions upfront. Sorry, I don’t want to frighten anybody, just making you aware to make a good selection.

[maley2711 in reply to Nusch]

same urination problem....they wanted to go home , so lucky me lived with catheter for 6 days....ugh!! The heck with patient, we don't have time to wait !! care????

[maley2711 in reply to Tall_Allen]

propofol sedation for both biopsy and colonoscopy....VERY quick recovery once adminitration stopped..definitely less than1 hr, probably less. Highly advise just based on my experience.....nurses agreed...It's "great". GA ?????

[witantric]

I had my first biopsy on Dec 7th. The antiobiotic injection was painful. The actual biopsy was not bad. But I think I developed a mild UTI, but the urine test said "no infection". Hmm... I have BPH, so maybe just those symptoms got exacerbated.

[plato123]

i had two biopsies both times the doctor said you might have a little blood in your ejaculate. Jeez that was an understatement of the century.

[HopingForTheBest1]

I had an mri fusion guided biopsy under anesthesia at a hospital outplacement surgicenter. No issues.

[aceace12]

I'm headed for my 4th today ..... seems like the first one was sore .... but all others not bad ...

[BanjoPicker]

I think I was already numb and in denial when I went into the urologist’s office for my initial biopsy. The lidocaine did its job quickly and the rectal biopsy (14 cores) lasted about 10 minutes. I listened as the doctor communicated with the nurse to label each core. He stated a couple of times that the core was fragmented. I remember telling the doctor that his sampling device sounded like a cheap office stapler. I asked if he was satisfied that he got quality samples and he assured me that he hit all areas of concern. I peed and passed a couple of clots at the office before I was released to go home. Pink urine for a couple of days. The biopsy results were posted to my online account 3 days before my followup with the urologist. I looked up the definition of every word in the report and I had myself fully panicked before the doctor explained the results in context.

[d55eng in reply to BanjoPicker]

"Cheap Office Stapler"? Ha! Agreed! I told my urologist it sounded like a cheap dime store cap gun!

[Daveofnj]

Going for a transperineal in a couple weeks.

[d55eng]

Thanks, Fast...

Can't speak for the others but I had elevated PSA since 2015 with MRI and Select MDx Urine test suggestive of a 56% probability of cancer including an undefined 1.4 cm lesion and ASAP cells. Prostate size remained about 25-30cc. All 4 biopsies, including one performed by UCSF, were negative. In my case, prostate biopsies are akin to playing a game of U-Boat!

Don

[Carlosbach]

Before my biopsy I was suffering with urinary retention and my urologist conducted a cystoscopy. When the urologist started the procedure I reminded him that I had little control of my bladder and that I was likely to urinate during the procedure. He quickly replied, "That's okay, we're set up to deal with that." The funny part was the look the nurse shot him.

Talk about if looks could kill. You could practically read her thoughts, "You prick! You and the patient will walk out after the procedure and I'll be stuck here cleaning up this guys pee! @#$%^&*!!". Fortunately I was able to save her some work and kept the floor dry.

The biopsy itself went okay. Some discomfort, and a couple of sharp pinches, but not too bad.

[JWS13 in reply to Carlosbach]

how painful was the cystoscope?

[Carlosbach in reply to JWS13]

not bad at all. Before the scope I had been to the emergency room twice to have catheters inserted, and then I had to self cath for months. The scope insertion wasn’t significantly more uncomfortable.

[witantric]

I really think in this day and age where we are close to fusion these biopsies are barbaric. There has to be a better way. I have a friend with elevated psa and has gone through 6-7 biopsies. He is thinking of just rolling the dice, which is not good. Getting off my soap box

[pjd55d]

I have only had one biopsy - supposedly he used lidocaine. He took 12 samples. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and have gotten some hard bumps and knocks in my life - including bashing my face with the handlebar in a bike accident - broke my nose which I set myself, knocked 3 teeth loose and ended up with a 14 point crown when they rebuilt the top of my mouth. HOWEVER, that biopsy experience was the ugliest and most painful thing I have ever had - so far.

I am due for a cystoscopy coming up in January. The Urologist ordered it and I looked at him. He said: what ? I asked if he had every had one - no but that he had a reputation of having a slow gentle hand ... we'll see.

I wonder if these guys who do the biopsies and cystoscopies would do them the same way if they knew what it felt like

[cancerfox]

I've only had one biopsy, and maybe it was atypical, but it wasn't that bad. The doctor gave me a shot first to numb the area, so when he did the biopsy it just felt like something was poking me in my colon area. It was slightly unpleasant, but nothing special. The doctor told me to let him know if he was hurting me, so as a joke during one of his sample takings I said "Ouch!" real loud. He stopped and said, "Are you OK?", and I said, "I'm fine. I was just kidding around!" Got a big laugh from the nurse and doctor. 😀 🦊

[LowT]

It would seem if one has seen one prostate Bx, one has seen one prostate Bx. Just as with PCa, if one has seen one case of PCa, they have seen one case of PCa. I had general anesthesia for mine. Had typical 12 core been done only it would have missed my posterior mid line GS 7 (3+4) with ECE. The MRI was used to guide. 7 of 7 additional "cross fire" cores returned all high percent of cancer. Other 12 cores were fine. I had surgery, thankfully SV were not involved and SM were negative. However now six years later I have a new 0.4 x 0,9 cm enhancing nodule in prostate bed with Prostate MRI and uPSA of 0.1 and negative PSMA PET/CT (which is not surprising given low PSA). Decision making in process. Also have unusually high LH, FSH, PRL which are not good in the face of PCa but these are not normally measured so little experience to draw from. Same is true for free T, etc. as mine has always been extremely low. Also had low T for years but I feel that statin use somehow contributed as after stopping statin two years ago T is now as high as 700. My guess is the rising PSA is reflecting that rise in T. It's an interesting journey for sure.

[jazzy53]

Mine was painful beyond belief. I received no anesthesia except for a local that numbed the tissue leading to the prostate but could not penetrate the prostate itself. The urologist who performed it has a great clinical reputation but a horrible bedside manner. He kept admonishing me to lie still despite the searing pain that accompanied each of the 15 core samples. I will never do this again without twilight anesthesia. Thankfully, this guy moved on. It's great that some men find the procedure to be merely uncomfortable. What bothers me is that doctors use the positive experiences of some men to generalize about what all patients can expect, and if you don't fall into that camp, it's your fault. Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.

[janebob99 in reply to jazzy53]

Sorry about your experience. I plan on asking for propofol and versed, like they give for colonoscopies.