Utterly OT: Prostate Treatment

[Tim+]

Tim

[dennis]

No it doesn't. I had a liver biopsy and it was inconclusive. It was the bowel biopsy with the camera at its limit that was conclusive that what they could see on the image was cancer.

[GB]

There are lots of procedures for small cancers in the prostate that just treat the lump. Like a lumpectomy for breast cancer, rather than mastectomy. One of the prostate treatments involves freezing.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Quite. I've had a few friends in otherwise good health die of prostate cancer recently. And with all cancers, the sooner they are diagnosed, the better the chance of treatment working.

The old saying that many die with their prostate cancer rather than because of it is something of an old wife's tale.

[Tim+]

Which old wives have you been talking to?

Tim

[GB]

There seem to be two types of prostate cancer. One is incredibly slow growing and you can live with it for a couple of decades. The other type is aggressive. Your friends who died quickly had that. I wouldn't have a radical prostatectomy unless I were pretty certain it was aggressive. YMMV.

If the medics could tell them apart easily, things would be simple, but ...

[blatha]

No its not. Most who have prostate cancer do indeed die of something else because it progresses quite slowly most of the time.

[Bill Wright]

Yes it does.

Bill

[dennis]

No it doesn't a biopsy can only confirm a cancer. They do give negative results just like any test.

[GB]

Do they still do a 12 needle test through the rectum? One issue is that it's hit and miss, literally, whether they sample a small cancer or just get healthy tissue nearby.

There's a new system, where they superimpose the MRI scan whilst sampling the prostate, but apart from that it's a random process.

[Bob Eager]

There's also a template biopsy, which uses about 50 needles, typically. But done under general anaesthetic, and more accurate.

I had one after my third TRUS biopsy resulted in sepsis. The complication was that I'm allergic to the usual antibiotic treatment. So they sent me for a template one, and after discussion with the consultant, they did that and the HoLEP at the same time.

[Dave Plowman (News]

If you are happy to take the risk, good luck.

[TOJ]

4 of my 12 needles were positive, but I do not know in what pattern.

Just finished (yesterday) my first week of EBR.

[GB]

I hope it goes really, really well. :)

[TOJ]

Thanks.

[Tim+]

Who?s talking about risk? I?m talking about your assertion that many are men dying *with* prostate cancer rather than of it is an old wives tale. It ain?t.

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News]

It can be a problem to those who believe it and don't get it checked out properly. And then die of it.

But you can happily leave it to chance based on how you see statistics. Not my problem at all. But may be to others who follow your advice.

[Tim Lamb]

In message [e-mail]>, "Dave Plowman (News)" [e-mail]> writes

35 years ago my father died following prostate cancer diagnosis and various operations. At the time, it was reckoned that roughly 1 in 4 men would die from the aggressive version with the remainder likely to die of something unrelated. Unsurprisingly I am a little nervous. >

[The Natural Philosopher]

I have not died of four serious conditions to date.

We all die sometime. Enjoy the day.

[Swer]

Don't need to leave it to chance. You are free to have PSA tests and get a biopsy if that shows a need for a biopsy and to see that the bulk of biopsies show it's the slow cancer if it finds any cancer at all and accept that those with the slow cancer die of something else instead.