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Testing prostate tissue for cancer

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derek76
derek76

In another conversation testing of of prostate tissue after TURP and other procedures was touched on.

I had a follow up visit to the urology nurse two years after my Holmium/Thulium laser procedure. She suggested that I was overdue to have another PSA test. I said that it was not needed as 37 grams of tissue were sent to the histology lab and came back clear. 

She said that was tissue from the middle of the gland and that cancer cells grow inwards from the outside. A Google search confirms that.

Are others here continuing to have PSA tests after prostate surgery?

0 likes, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • andrew46586
    andrew46586 derek76

    Posted

    The nurse is right. Follow up PSA is never any harm provided the results are interpreded in a calm manner. I can of course understand your hesidance.
    • derek76
      derek76 andrew46586

      Posted

      I asked about the new test done on urine but that is not on stream yet and still undergoing trials. They like most other NHS hospitals don't do the Free PSA test due I think to them not having the testing facilities.

      I asked my last GP to arrange one for me years ago and he had to send the sample to a Lab in Sheffield for testing at my expense... then I had to explain the result to him.

      This nurse at first said that there would have been no tissue to send away as as the laser vaporised it all. Not many patients manage to get laser surgery at that hospital :-)  Rather than explain it to her I told her to read the operation notes later and she would see that 37 grams was retreived and sent to the lab.  

       

  • caringbah
    caringbah derek76

    Posted

    Derek I have had a PAE but don't intend to have any more PSA tests. In my opinion my problems were caused by PSA testing. A high PSA caused me to have a biopsy which in turn caused my urinary problems which were only resolved by PAE. 

    I don't intend to get on the prostate /urologist treadmill again. A large study of 10000 men where split into two groups. One had regular PSA tests biopsies etc. The other group did nothing. 

    After 10 years there was virtually no difference between the mortality rates between the two groups. I know which group had the better quality of life. 

    My own oncologist told me that and he himself refuses to have PSA tests. 

    I'll take my chances. 

    • derek76
      derek76 caringbah

      Posted

      I had biopsies in 2000 and 2001 one caused me to haemorrhage. just as I was about to leave the hospital and I had to stay overnight. Each caused me to have a later prostate infection that I had never had before. Like yours they have continued as prostatitis.

      It got to the stage by 2005 when I had PVP that my PSA was up to 9.8. Big prostate = high PSA. It went down to 5.0 after the PVP but went slowlyup again as my prostate regrew.

      Last time it was checked it was over 7.0 before my 2013 laser procedure.

      It was  

  • gbhall
    gbhall derek76

    Posted

    That is perfectly understandable, but......a PSA test is just a blood test, it cannot be painful or lead to a dangerous infection. It is only if you allow a biopsy that such potential problams arise.

    As Andrew points out, a PSA test can be interpreted sensibly - for example, a doubling in a few months would certainly be cause for investigation.

    It seems to me therefore that it is more sensible to continue with PSA testing, but not biopsies. Anyhow, new tests will surely come along with much better selectivity than the PSA test.

    • derek76
      derek76 gbhall

      Posted

      I have no problem with the PSA test. I had two a year from 1994 until two years ago along with my other blood tests. With the tissue tested I was surprised that it was suddenly deemed as necessary again by a nurse when neither my GP nor the operating surgeon had suggested it at my follow up.
    • bill80656
      bill80656 derek76

      Posted

      I have had nothing but torturous and unnecessary procedures done by urologists over the years. I am serious when I say that the several that I have seen have performed many unnecessary and painful procedures.

      The first one I should have sued when at the age of 21 I had a vasectomy. The doctor left me on the procedure table in the emergency room before the procedure was done! He never came back to finish. The nurses where astounded as they paged him on the hospital PA system and he was nowhere to be found. It is my belief that he was offended when I went to meet him to set it up and I had the balls to ask him if he had done many of these procedures. I'm 67 now and back in those days I guess a 21 year old should not ask a doc if he was experienced. The result was I got so swollen up that I couldn't walk for 4 days. 

      Another doc did a biopsy on the postate after a PSA reading that was under 5 as I recall. No anesthesia, no nothing, told me that it wouldn't hurt. Well OMG he took 14 snips and each one my ass jumped up of the table. Then a week later he calls me and says that the test was inconclusive and wanted to do it again. I feel for that one. Sonof a bitch sadistic doc. Then he jamps a scope up my dick with no numbing agent and I think no lubricant, and again he told me it wouldn't hurt. Ya right. 

      That procedure was so brutal that I believe he caused my Perones condition which is a bent dick. Still bent today!. Ten years later.

      I can go on with a few more bad experiences. I will never go to another urologist again no matter what.

      My PAE in June with a vascular surgeon has cured me of my urination difficulties. Thank God for that. No pain, no blood, and no side effects. Some relief in 10 days.

       

    • bill80656
      bill80656

      Posted

      And one other thing my urologist that did the useless, unsuccessful, and barbaric TURP 2 years ago knows about the PAE procedure and never suggested it or referred me and only wanted to do the TURP again.

      The only good thing that resulted from the TURP was that I didn't get the retrograde ejaculation which would have really sucked.

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