My first biopsy

Welcome to the forum, hopefully you are just passing through. I'm surprised your uro would say 80% Have you done a round of antibiotics? If your PSA numbers have bounced around there is a good chance it's just an infection or inflammation. Most docs would try the antibiotics prior to a biopsy.

The actual biopsy for some was no big deal, others had a painful experience. I would talk to the doc about pain management. I think some guys were even sedated like they do for a colonoscopy.

Let us know the results, some of the guys here are quite good at determining what it all means.

Jon

Thanks for the input. My PSA score has been 6.2 for about 2 years now. It lowered to 2.5 when I was on Act Dutasteride for a year but increased back to 6 about 6 months after I came off of it.

I have never heard of the PHI test, thank you for sharing. I have called my uro and asked to go in for more blood work to have a PHI test done.

Thank you.

Post Edited (Waterfalling) : 2/11/2017 12:34:50 PM (GMT-7)

Here's my short version of the biopsy:

Uro gave me a scrip for 3 cipro tabs and told me to buy a fleet.
Night before: cipro at bedtime
Morning of: cipro at first thing of the day, no breakfast, apply fleet about 1 hr before appointment. Dump follows.
At office: Called back, NP asks a few questions, "It says here you're allergic to penicillin, is that correct?" She leaves, comes back with a syringe. "Antibiotic. Come over here and drop trou" (THAT hurt the worst)
Pants down around knees, get on table with butt hanging over edge.
Doc comes in, in goes US probe (did he lube it?)
"A pinch while I inject the lidocaine"
12 snaps of the core sampler--felt the last one
Wipe, get up, go home.
Drinking lots of water
about 2 hrs after, need to pee, nothing happens. At hour 3 pee, out comes a huge blood clot.
Pass clots every time I pee for the next day or two
another cipro at bedtime
Day 5 after, "Hi there, this is ___ at Dr. N's office...guess what, you have cancer!"

The worst it will be is bad day at Joliet prison..and I don't mean the food.

Have you guys heard of Focal Therapy where a laser is used to essentially kill the tumour and save the rest of the prostate as opposed to radical prostatectomy?

Thanks.

One thing I wasn't prepared for and found rather shocking, your semen will look like motor oil for a few weeks.

When I was a lad I worked as a Longshoreman. It was extremely heavy labour and I got the bonus pack of severe hemorrhoids. Still have them, they are very sensitive and bleed a lot.

My first biopsy/sonogram was without anesthesia. I told the doc about the 'roids, he shrugged and said he would be done in 15 minutes. He lied so I started passing out after about 40 minutes and he flaked.

Next biopsy was with my new (civilized) uro. I got the propofol before. Unfortunately, I am in the 52% of the population that doesn't get the (Michael Jackson) profound feelings of euphoria. I just got the pain and some antibiotics....and the bad news.

Waterfalling said...
I am almost 51 and my numbers are: PSA 6.27 and my Total/Free PSA is 1.1.

According to the lab I have a 26.9% chance of having prostate cancer but my urologist disagrees and says it's more like 80%! We shall see what the biopsy reveals.

Perhaps a minor point at this juncture, but just for clarity you probably meant the free-to-total PSA ratio, which is the same as the percent free PSA, rather than the inverse of this. "Total/Free PSA" doesn't make mathematical/logical sense, so I assume that this is what you meant and you merely had a simply typo.

You have a somewhat elevated PSA, and the American Urological Association (AUA) "best practice" guidelines says your urologist should FIRST evaluate what other possible causes of elevation could be present BEFORE proceeding to biopsy, so hopefully your doctor has been following "best practices," although you didn't really mention these steps.

There are primarily two significant causes of non-cancerous elevated PSA which are indistinguishable from cancerous causes in the PSA test...this is why it is said that "the PSA test is not specific for prostate cancer." The two primary benign causes are BHP and prostatitis, or prostate infection. Prostate infection is a great example because it unnaturally raises PSA in the blood, and lowers the free-to-total PSA ratio (like you have).

I'd be sure that your doctor is following "best practices." There's lots of docs that like to jump right into a biopsy...and there is plenty of over-biopsying which is taking place.

Thanks, Bobby Mac. I had not read your post until now.

Either way, the original poster probably included a typo. I guess that I would agree your interpretation of the likely correct read is more likely. That being said, everything else I wrote still applies. Thanks for pointing out your post.

Waterfalling, yeah, PHI might tell you something useful. PSA is a weird thing sometimes. The fact that it is stable for 2 years actually might mean something. If it was wildly going up and down, then we'd probably tell you that you have an infection or prostatitis. If it was on a slow, steady rise over a period of years...going from 1 to 2 to 4 to 6 or something over a period of 3-4 years, then that would be more like a cancer trend. With it rock steady...who knows?

Thanks for sharing your experiences and information so far guys, it has been most helpful.

Jack -

Now 11% makes sense - so you were in the money on your assessment.

Bobby Mac