Yesterday, I discussed some of the various unpleasantries involving a prostate biopsy.
If that wasn’t unpleasant enough, here’s the kicker. Unlike other cancers, you don’t get a “Yes or No” (malignant or benign) diagnosis from a prostate biopsy. You see, with most cancer, a tumor is found by hand, CT scan, MRI or other diagnostic. Then, a biopsy is done to see if it is malignant or not. For whatever reasons, they use an invasive biopsy to actually search for cancer of the prostate. It’s a semi-random core sampling of 12 or more small areas within the much larger prostate gland. If you are unlucky and have a cancer and they are lucky enough to hit the right spot, then you know it’s “Yes.” It’s also quite possible they miss the spot. Then you know nothing at all because of frequent false negatives. Maybe you got it, maybe you don’t. Some people have multiple biopsies over a period of years before they finally hit the right spot and find the cause of their worsening symptoms. Hopefully by then, it’s not too late.
Continue reading Prostate Biopsy Part II: They’re not just for testing a tumor anymore