curious

Hi everyone, just wondering what the more experienced members think about my post-op pathology, read some where that even one microscopic cell can regrow, see Uro next week, maybe I am reading too much ?

Regards Mal.

Hey ~ Mal, Thought this might be of interest... ** Excerpts taken from “Dr. Patrick Walsh’s Guide to Surviving Prostate Cancer” by: Patrick C. Walsh, M.D. (Professor of Urology, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions)      and Janet Farrar Worthington.    Copyright 2001     Page 145   ** What about Perineural Invasion?   As cancers grow, they compress normal tissue, looking for “elbow room”—spaces with less resistance, where they can spread.   Nerves are usually surrounded by some empty space; for cancer, this is the real estate equivalent of a nice suburban lot with a big backyard—plenty of elbow room.   Thus, it’s not uncommon to find prostate cancer in the spaces around the nerves; this is called ‘perineural invasion.”   Because the nerves are most common close to the surface of the prostate, the findings of perineural invasion on a biopsy suggests that the cancer is close to the edge of the prostate, and may well have penetrated the capsule.   However—this is important to keep in mind— cancer that has penetrated the capsule can still be cured .   Which makes this a paradoxical finding—because, although men with perineural invasion are more likely to have capsular penetration than men without it, perineural invasion has no long-term impact on whether or not a man can be cured .   For this reason, some noted pathologists have suggested that it should not even be commented on when found in a biopsy, because it’s not worth worrying about .