
10 Things To Know Before Getting A Prostate Biopsy
So, your PSA is high and now you need a prostate biopsy. The thought of having a prod up your rectum with needles going through it makes you cringe.
Yep, no man ever wakes up in the morning excited about this procedure.
Here I share with you 10 things I learned to determine if you really need a prostate biopsy.
10 Things To Know Before Getting A Prostate Biopsy
- You’re not crazy for not wanting a prostate biopsy. Prostate biopsies are painful and uncomfortable weeks after the procedure. Despite that, you may still need one.
- A prostate biopsy can cause erectile dysfunction (ED) in some cases. While I understand no man wants ED, a biopsy is the ONLY way to confirm if you have prostate cancer or not.
- The idea that prostate biopsies cause spreading (known as tracking or needle seeding) of cancer is theoretically probable but hard to prove.
- There is only one gold-standard way of knowing if you have prostate cancer and that is through a prostate biopsy.
- Beware of charlatans wanting to treat your “prostate cancer” without a biopsy. That is not possible.
- There is blood in your pee and semen after a biopsy for up to two weeks.
- Up to 25% of men can develop lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) after a prostate biopsy.
- Despite taking antibiotics before and after a prostate biopsy, infections still can occur. If a fever occurs after a prostate biopsy, don’t bother taking anything for the fever. Go to the emergency room immediately.
- A prostate MRI may help determine if a biopsy is needed.
- Other lab tests like the 4K Score, Select MDx, PSA density, PSA kinetics are all useful tools to determine if a prostate biopsy is necessary at all.
As always, if you think you need personalized help with figuring your high PSA / prostate biopsy situation, contact Precious Sherman to schedule you for an appointment via email: Precious@Drgeo.com.