The Believers Medicine Podcast The Believers Doctor

There are many types of treatments for prostate cancer. Along with other medications, some men are treated with surgery or radiation. At other times, prostate cancer does not need to be treated. It can be “watched,” or monitored from year to year. The decision for treatment with surgery, radiation or watchful waiting depends on many factors. One is these factors is called a Gleason score. After undergoing a prostate biopsy, a doctor that specializes in looking at tissues on microscope, also known as a pathologist, will give a score to grade the cancer cell from not aggressive to aggressive. This is called a Gleason score. Let’s find out more about the Gleason score and how this number can be used to guide the treatment of prostate cancer.

The choice to undergo a biopsy of the prostate is an important decision. After a PSA blood test, and likely an MRI of the prostate gland, are performed, you and your doctor may come to the decision that a biopsy of the prostate gland is best for you. With this biopsy, several small samples of tissues are taken from the prostate gland. In this way, the doctor will get better idea of the presence or absence of prostate cancer or the aggressiveness of these cells if found. Let find out more about you can expect before and after your prostate biopsy.

The decision to get a biopsy of your prostate is a big one. There can be anxiety while awaiting results. Once results are obtained, a cancer diagnosis can carry a heavy weight. These drawbacks are especially concerning when we consider a large number of prostate cancers are slow growing and will not cause death. Notwithstanding, there are some prostate cancers that are aggressive and deadly. Therefore, a prostate biopsy becomes an important means to identify and separate slow growing cancers for aggressive ones. Lest find out more about when you should consider getting a biopsy of your prostate.

You have decided to get a PSA blood test and it is higher than expected. The test is repeated, and remains elevated. When you look at you PSA blood test year over year, it has increased with time. You have a discuss with your primary care doctor and it is their recommendation that you consider a biopsy. A referral is placed to a urologist. Yet, before seeing the urologist you ask yourself: “should I consider an MRI of my prostate before undergoing a biopsy?” The answer in most case is “yes.” Let’s find out why.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and in the United States. About 1,600,000 men worldwide, and 165,00 men in the United States, are affected by prostate cancer each year. Typically, a blood called a PSA, or Prostate Specific Antigen, is used to screen for prostate cancer. The chances of being affected by prostate cancer increases as men get older. Therefore, it is important to know the right time to be screened for prostate cancer. With this in mind, the timing of prostate cancer screening depends of whether a man is considered an average or high risk for this disease. Let’s find out more about the when one should be screened for prostate cancer.

When you go to your doctor for a yearly visit, you may be offered a blood test to search for prostate cancer. This blood test is called a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). Nowadays, some professional societies recommend against using digital rectal exam to search for prostate for cancer. We have found the blood test is more helpful than using our finger to find cancer in average risk men, but the blood test is not perfect either. When receiving your test results, it is not enough to know if you test was “positive” or “negative.” You need to know your number. There are 3 different cut offs you should remember when looking at your PSA results.