Anyone know if doctors can DIY their own prostate exam? Obviously if they can, the rest of us can learn to do it for ourselves and save the yearly appointment (we're all busy people after all).
This question is brought to you by the same bloke who asked if you could DIY the Heimlich Maneuver, BTW.
I believe some people pay large sums of money to non-doctors with no clothes on to perform this service :-)
Possibly by the time you're old enough to need one you can't reach round far enough to DIY it.
Or you could buy yourself a
(I don't know why they have black and white versions; I'd have thought the anatomy was similar).
Instructables will probably have a 3D printed one sometime soon.
Yes
Owain
Cursitor Doom grunted in news:oq8od2$23r$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
If this is even a vaguely serious question, the simple answer is that even if you can reach, you'd need to have felt a good number of prostates to be able to distinguish a healthy one from a dodgy one. So unless you're up for that prospect, I'd stick with having a doc do it for you...
Lobster wrote in news:XnsA7FADCC4EA7F1davidlobsterpot601@81.171.92.236:
Why not a PSA Test?
They are complementary tests. Neither is definitive. Even a biopsy isn't definitive!
They don't work that well. As my doctor said to me, if you want to know more use google.
They are definitive if they find something, but they do miss as I now know.
Actually they mentioned mine after an ultrasound they did and as it had not changed in several years I was spared any invasive procedures in this direction.
Asfor your comment, well not sure this is true except for those into sexual release without the pleasure bit.They do it with bulls using an electric probe.
Brian
DerbyBorn wrote in news:XnsA7FAEB03C46FETrainJPlantntlworldc@81.171.92.222:
PSA discovered mine. The finger test did not reveal anything - but the biopsy did. I had no symptoms. It was caught early due to me just asking for a PSA Test after talking to a friend who had been through the problem. I believe all men should have the PSA test every year. Ask your GP. Don't wait for symtoms.
what yearly appointment would that be then?
tim (not a disinterested party)
it has a high percentage of false positives
tim
but then neither does the finger test
Google it. The *current* view is that it used to lead to unneccessary surgery leading to little or no net benefit. The best option is MRI which can pick up the more dangerous forms which are often inaccessible. But that of course costs an arm and a leg.
PSA >100 means you definitely have cancer, but what do you do about a PSA of 7 or 8? Retest in a couple of months, and see if it's going up?
In my case, a digital exam showed something, so did MRI, but the biopsy was clear. I hated the biopsy.
The PSA test doesn't lead to unnecessary surgery. That arises from what people do with the results.
I had an MRI before surgery - and a CT Scan. The NHS is great!
It's the trend that matters. I graphed mine going slowly upwards, then it accelerated.
I've had three of those. The last one (2010) landed me in hospital for ten days with sepsis.
They wanted to do one in January this year (PSA was going up faster), but decided a template biopsy would reduce the risk of infection (oh, I'm allergic to some antibiotics too). Because I has to go to a different NHS trust, they did an initial consultation. Consultant said my flow rate was rubbish, and they could fix that and do the biopsy at the same time. It would also reduce my PSA and make subsequent changes easier to see.
It was great. Went in 7am, 3 hour procedure(s), and went home lunchtime the next day. Catheter for 5 days, went back for removal, tested me and flow rate had increased by a factor of 6!
Procedure was a HoLEP - look it up.
And the biopsy was clear. Two cancers now...
newshound grunted in news: snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:
It's not just that, the unnecessary surgery is very likely to cause impotence and incontinence.
If I already had risk factors like a family history of the disease, being Afro-Carribean, I'd go for the PSA test but in the absence of those; no thanks.
- the finger test basically tells if it is enlarged
- the PSA test tell if it is enlarged and/or possible tumours
- the biopsy mostly detects tumours
- the MRI detects nearly all tumours
If either of the last two show positive, time for the surgery. Mine gave no ill effects.
Failing to have the surgery will mean you either die a bit sooner, or a lot sooner (if it's the aggressive type)
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