Active surveillance prostate cancer.

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Comments

  • Clevelandguy
    Clevelandguy Member Posts: 1,180 Member
    Image test?

    Hi Jtiger,

    If it was me I would press your Urologist for some type of image scan,MRI,PET,ect. to locate the cancer inside of your Prostate.  Even at 3+3 if the cancer is right against your bladder or near the edge of your gland it would concern me.  If the cancer is buried deep inside then at 3+3 you should be able to watch it over the next few years with little worry of it spreading outside the gland.  Just my opinion......

    Dave 3+4

  • hopeful and optimistic
    hopeful and optimistic Member Posts: 2,346 Member

    If you have not had an MRI,

    If you have not had an MRI, you need one. A formal AS program will include a 3Tesla mp-MRI within the first year. Insurance will pay for it. Insist on getting an order for that, of, find a new doctor.

    Ask for a 3Tesla MRI. This test may show extracapsular extension, that is if the cancer is outside the prostate, and will give indication of suspicious lesions, that may or not be cancerous in the prostate, ...you will be better able to sleep at night.

  • Georges Calvez
    Georges Calvez Member Posts: 547 Member
    edited April 2020 #24

    Georges,

    The biopsy report will only show the lesions that we're hit by needles during a blind biopsy. There is the possibility that there are other lesions, which may be visible on an mp-MRI. I vote for the 3T mp-MRI as his next step.

     

     

    Worth a try

    Hi there,

    It is worth a try but at the moment where I live you need a good reason to visit a hospital as they are otherwise engaged and they have a few people with a novel infectious disease on the books! :-)

    Best wishes,

    Georges

  • lighterwood67
    lighterwood67 Member Posts: 393 Member
    edited April 2020 #25
    If it is

    If it is not broke, don't fix it.  Active Surveillance is your chioce of treatment.  I can see where pallative treatment could be worrisome.  But there are lots of folks on this site who are functioning great with this choice.  Personally, I think for now you are making the right choice.  Nuke or gut, in your case, probably not the best choice.  So you need to reconcile yourself that you and your doctors have made the right choice for now.  There are many options in treating PC.  I feel most of us second guess ourselves on the treatment options.  Keep quality of life in front of you;  weigh the information; if not comfortable with what the doctors are telling you get a second opinion; by all means get all the imaging you can, but they do not tell the whole story and are inaccurate in some cases.  On the other hand, tissue under a microscope tells the story.  So get your anxiety under control; don't let it interfere with your life.  In my opinion for now you and your doctors have made the right choice.  Good luck on your journey.

  • ASAdvocate
    ASAdvocate Member Posts: 193 Member
    edited April 2020 #26
    Georges,

    The biopsy report will only show the lesions that we're hit by needles during a blind biopsy. There is the possibility that there are other lesions, which may be visible on an mp-MRI. I vote for the 3T mp-MRI as his next step.

     

     

  • Georges Calvez
    Georges Calvez Member Posts: 547 Member
    Local treatment

    Hi there,

    If you go in for an MRI then it is possible that if the tumour is small and highly concentrated you can opt for HIFU, Nanoknife, etc that has the capability of spot treatment of the disease.
    It does not have the risk of prostatectomy or full on radiation treatment and in some cases it is curative.
    Obviously there is the possibility that it will miss a bit and I doubt most medical plans will pay for it so you will have to be self financing, but it is an alternative to active surveillance.

    Best wishes,

    Georges