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Appointment wait time
My name is Retha and i have a question. My husband recently had an MRI and was told he had 2 lesions with PI RADs of 4 on each and that they needed to be biopsied. That was on the 7th of October, its now the 1rst of November and we haven't heard from anyone about an appointment for the biopsies, is this normal .
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Retha,
Was the MRI ordered due to an increase in his PSA? What number? Does your husband see a urologist or was the MRI and PSA tests ordered by his regular Doctor? If he does not have a Urologist he needs to get referred to one right away. Often it is the urologist who performs a biopsy and if he seeing one the Urologist immediately get it on his biopsy schedule. My urologist performed Biopsies on Wednesday afternoons. Definitely call and check and find out as that is a long time without even hearing of an appointment. Typically as I said they get scheduled fairly soon although the procedure might be scheduled for two or three weeks out. It always possible it fell through the cracks.
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My husband goes to the VA, and on a regular yearly checkup his blood work showed a psa of 4, the doctor put him on antibiotics for a couple of weeks in case it was just an infection, when went back his PSA was 6.39, since we don't live near a VA facility she referred us to a urologist in our area and thats where we did the MRI, the doctor said if we didn't get an appointment within 30 days we would have to do another MRI, I called the Urologist office and she just said they were working on it. Haven't heard anything else.
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PIRADS 4 lesions definitely need biopsy. Your husband is wrong about dismissing it because they seem in no hurry. They cannot know what the lesions are and by definition a PIRADS 4 lesion has a strong probability for suspicion of cancer, although not always . Also he needs what is called a MRI fusion biopsy where the lesions are able to be specifically targeted to get several core samples from the lesions and not a random grid core biopsy. You may call back the urologist office and ask if they have the capability to the MRI guided fusion biopsy. If they are unable I don’t know if you can contact another urologist that can or you need a VA referral. Also I don’t understand why they are working on the biopsy appointment. Again I don’t know if the holdup is another specific referral from the VA for that. I would ask the office what the difficulty is in getting the biopsy scheduled and whether he does the biopsies, and when does he schedule them. If they say it’s waiting on the VA, maybe you have a contact with his VA Doctor to move it along
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Thank you so much, yes when we were given the MRI results the doctor said we would be doing the MRI guided fusion biopsy, and thats the last we heard from them, the receptionist did seem a bit out of sorts when i asked about the biopsy appointment and then she just said we are working on it.
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I went back to look at my calendar. It was 9 weeks between my MRI and my biopsy. I dont remember how long it was before I heard from the doctors to schedule the biopsy, but it was more than a month after MRI. I took them at their word that PC is so slow growing that there was no urgency. But also noting that their schedules for biopsy were pretty full.
It was easier to communicate with scheduling staff through their online portal than calling and leaving messages.
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Retha,
Were you able to check about a biopsy appointment? My MRI was done on 1-17-24, I then met with the Urologist and received my results of the MRI on 1-26-24 and he scheduled the biopsy on 2-7-24, so for me three weeks, although he first mentioned 2-14-24, but Valentine’s Day was out of the question. I know with others it has taken longer and their can also be insurance approval delays that can cause delays.
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Thank you so much for checking on us. After calling a couple more times the receptionist told me they were fitting him in on the 19th and they would get back with me the week before so hopefully i will hear from them this coming Tuesday. I just don't understand why they waited so long to tell me anything. But at least we have a date now.
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I understand your concern about pushing them, but they can’t do anything to mess up the biopsy. Since they told you the 19th it would not be out of the ordinary to call them tomorrow to confirm your 19th appointment and ask them what preparation is needed and time. See what their response is. You could them question them what days he actually performs them and flat out ask what the difficulty is in getting his next available biopsy appointment. Maybe if you are not to far from the office, it might be easier to go by the office and say the same things that you are just trying to get prepared for the 19th. Typically these biopsies are scheduled like regular appointments, but scheduled on certain afternoons dedicated to just biopsies. They have openings for biopsies on certain days and fill up the Doctors schedule just as they know his next available regular appointment time.
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I had my mri on August 15 was a PIRAD 5. When my doctor took his time to give me an appointment I found a different doctor. I had my biopsy on 9/11. I was confirmed with a Gleason score of 8. I had my PSMA pet scan on 9/25. I had two consultations with radiation oncologists. I found a 3rd doctor (this one I had confidence in). Then I had a RARP on 10/30. I had to push it myself. I had to find my own appointments with the lab for the MRI, had to push to get the biopsy done (the scheduling person was in no hurry). I had to find a place to get the pet scan done in a timely manner. I feel much better that I pushed the process.
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