Biopsy done by PA?

I need to have a biopsy done, but it's going to be more than a month before my Dr. can do it. The alternative is that I can have a PA do it pretty quickly. It's not surgery, so I don't know why a PA could do it. He said their PA's at UT Southwestern do several hundred a year. Any thoughts"

The "random" cores of a biopsy (whether all or some, as in the case of a targeted+systematic biopsy after an MRI) aren't truly random. Uro's use their skill and experience to interpret the shadows on the ultrasound screen and try to hit any areas that look suspicious in each prostate zone. Abnormal tissue, whether malignant or not, is, I believe, less dense and more friable than healthy tissue and reflects less energy. So to have this advantage, it would depend on the amount of experience and training your PA has had.

Djin

I was unaware that PAs sometimes do the biopsies. I am quite surprised a PA is allowed to perform an invasive procedure. I suppose I would rather have a highly experienced PA do it than a much less experienced urologist.

Most biopsies are not invasive. They are done with a small needle not a scalpel.

If PAs are not doing these then many more doctors are not treating patients. I would rather have a PA do a procedure they do daily than a doctor that does the procedure monthly.

By the way JRK,
I would recommend that you ask ahead of time if they numb your prostate. They don't always, and it is something you definitely want done.

In the past three years I have had three very poor experiences with three different PAs. I refuse to see one any reason now. But that’s just me.