Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Prostate Biopsy?

Your insurance may dictate whether you get it in the office or hospital. The bill for my hospital visit just for the biopsy was $48,000. It was outpatient and I was only there 2-3 hours. I had to pay $95 out of pocket. The surgery was $116,000. I never asked about prices but I'm sure the one done in the office is cheaper and some insurance may not approve the hospital visit. I was told they could get more accurate samples if you're asleep and in the hospital so they may use that angle to get insurance approval.

They divided my prostate into 5 segments and got 2 samples from each in my case. Some may do more. They did not detect any cancer in 2 of the 5 segments. There is a Gleason scale to rate how aggressive the cancer is. Anything 5 or below they usually just monitor it and do not treat unless it goes up. A score of 6 is borderline. Some docs will continue to monitor it, some will advise treatment. Mine was a 7. That meant either radiation or surgery. I chose surgery. Above 7 and you get pushed to the front of the line to get treatment ASAP.

1st week after surgery was a bit rough. I had to keep the catheter in and pee in a bag for 15 days, but I was out walking around the neighborhood and eating out after about 10 days. After getting the bag off I was doing most anything I wanted to do within a week.

Yep.....and 44 days of radiation!

Wrong!

If the Dr takes less than 12 core samples there is a good chance that he might not hit the cancerous cells.

The standard is 12 needle punch biopsies, six per side. Mine was 7-8 Gleason scale, meaning they ranged 7 to 8 depending on the punch, which is highly aggressive prostate cancer. Post prostatectomy, I still had measurable PSA so I got 2 months of external beam radiation. Still alive but couldn't fuc a duc if I had to.

PS, this all post Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam, they knew better but who cared, eh?

Well here is my story. My dad died with prostate cancer so I was predisposed. Started having my PSA checked yearly after I turned 40. My PSA started to move up in my 50’s so when it moved above 4.0 they requested that I have a biopsy. I like you checked around to see what others had experienced with the one given by the doctor in his office with only a local anesthetic. Like the others that have responded some had minor discomfort to severe pain issues. I requested the Valium drip and only had minor discomfort. My test proved positive with a Gleason score of 6.0. My doctor said this was a typical average score but recommended that I have either radiation treatment or have my prostate removed. My doctor said both were 95% effective and both could result in similar side effects. I had a buddy that chose radiation a year earlier and had great results and little side efffects. So I chose the radiation treatment which was 5 treatments per week for 9 weeks. This was in the late 1990’s so the treatments may be different now. The radiation treatments were not bad and I made it through them and was still able to not miss any work. After I completed the treatments my PSA had only dropped to 1.5 so we waited a month or 2 and rechecked it and it had moved up to 2.3 so needless to say I fell into the 5% group that was not successful. My urologist had retired in the meantime and I went to see a new urologist for the first time to discuss my options. He told me that my only option left was to have my prostate removed but due to the scar tissue now in my prostate from the radiation there were very few surgeon’s in the country that could perform what is referred to as a salvage prostatectomy. My new urologist was trained at Vanderbilt by one of the best that could perform such a surgery and since he felt my cancer was confined to the prostate his mentor agreed to meet with me and later removed it. The surgery was successful and my PSA has remained undetectable. I have had many ask my advise if I had to do it over again knowing what I know now. My advise is to ask your urologist for something more than a local anesthetic for your biopsy. If you find out that you have cancer and it is aggressive I would advise to have it removed. Also consider going to meet with other surgeon’s till you find one that you feel comfortable with. I would not recommend radiation treatment. Best wishes and hopefully your test comes back negative.

Thanks all.

I had three with cancer found on the third.

The first one is normally a 12 sample usually guided by an ultrasound probe. Mine was in an exam room set up for it at the doctor’s office. All of mine were with a local vice sedation. If it’s going to be under sedation it’ll be no problem. Then you have to wait for a couple of days for the results.

The second and third were both MRI fusion biopsies (16 and 24 samples) where you have a multi-parametric MRI. Then the MRI images are fuzed with the ultrasound images that the doc sees from the ultrasound probe to give him a better chance of hitting any suspicious areas.

I had surgery and recurrence a year later, followed by radiation so if you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM.

They should be able to get Deflaves prostate sample from your lips. Phaag!

Yup .... 49 for me after the surgery to remove the prostate.

It was 12 samples in one procedure. NO PAIN. No OR, just in the Doctor's office. Analysis came out negative. PSA had doubled from one to two. RZ.

Yep, last July. Doctor *really* didn't like what he observed digitally, so scheduled the biopsy. Wasn't a horrible for me as some describe, although the doc was so concerned he went in for 16 (instead of "just" 12). He was shocked as hell when results came back negative, but that's why they do them.

But the afterward effects suck! After the initial 3-4 week healing period, thought everything was in rearview mirror (pun intended). Nope, no sir!! Every 3-4 weeks I could feel a little something moving in my bowels like I had diahhrea, then my ass would start bleeding. No, not colon cancer, but from the sphincter where the needles entered. Lasts 1/2 day, then goes away. After 2 months, thought it would finally be done. Nope! Hit me again two weeks ago. For once I understood what women go through every month, and boy does it suck. 6-month follow-up visit in January, and this will be a major topic of discussion.

At age 60, you have a 60% chance of having prostate cancer and it goes up by 10% each decade after that, 70% at 70, 80% at 80, etc.

Having the diagnosis is one thing, what you do with it is another.